pure
[pyoo r]
- free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind; free from extraneous matter: pure gold; pure water.
- unmodified by an admixture; simple or homogeneous.
- of unmixed descent or ancestry: a pure breed of dog.
- free from foreign or inappropriate elements: pure Attic Greek.
- clear; free from blemishes: pure skin.
- (of literary style) straightforward; unaffected.
- abstract or theoretical (opposed to applied): pure science.
- without any discordant quality; clear and true: pure tones in music.
- absolute; utter; sheer: to sing for pure joy.
- being that and nothing else; mere: a pure accident.
- clean, spotless, or unsullied: pure hands.
- untainted with evil; innocent: pure in heart.
- physically chaste; virgin.
- ceremonially or ritually clean.
- free of or without guilt; guiltless.
- independent of sense or experience: pure knowledge.
- Biology, Genetics.
- homozygous.
- containing only one characteristic for a trait.
- Phonetics. monophthongal.
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Origin of pure
1250–1300; Middle English pur < Old French < Latin pūrus clean, unmixed, plain, pure
Synonyms
See more synonyms for pure on Thesaurus.com1. unmixed, unadulterated, unalloyed, uncontaminated, untainted, unstained, undefiled, untarnished, immaculate, unpolluted, uncorrupted. 12. modest, virtuous, undefiled.
Synonym study
1. See clean.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for unpure
Historical Examples
"But they are savages, these unpure Martians," the boy cried.
pure
- not mixed with any extraneous or dissimilar materials, elements, etcpure nitrogen
- free from tainting or polluting matter; clean; wholesomepure water
- free from moral taint or defilementpure love
- (prenominal) (intensifier)pure stupidity; a pure coincidence
- (of a subject, etc) studied in its theoretical aspects rather than for its practical applicationspure mathematics; pure science Compare applied
- (of a vowel) pronounced with more or less unvarying quality without any glide; monophthongal
- (of a consonant) not accompanied by another consonant
- of supposedly unmixed racial descent
- genetics biology breeding true for one or more characteristics; homozygous
- music
- (of a sound) composed of a single frequency without overtones
- (of intervals in the system of just intonation) mathematically accurate in respect to the ratio of one frequency to another
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French pur, from Latin pūrus unstained
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for unpure
pure
adj.
c.1300 (late 12c. as a surname, and Old English had purlamb "lamb without a blemish"), "unmixed," also "absolutely, entirely," from Old French pur "pure, simple, absolute, unalloyed," figuratively "simple, sheer, mere" (12c.), from Latin purus "clean, clear; unmixed; unadorned; chaste, undefiled," from PIE root *peue- "to purify, cleanse" (cf. Latin putus "clear, pure;" Sanskrit pavate "purifies, cleanses," putah "pure;" Middle Irish ur "fresh, new;" Old High German fowen "to sift").
Replaced Old English hlutor. Meaning "free from moral corruption" is first recorded mid-14c. In reference to bloodlines, attested from late 15c.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
pure
(pyur)- Having a homogeneous or uniform composition; not mixed.
- Free from adulterants or impurities.
- Produced by self-fertilization or continual inbreeding; homozygous.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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