pure
AdjectiveOpen English WordNet
Adjective (7)purer, purest
- free of extraneous elements of any kind“pure air and water”“pure gold”“pure primary colors”“the violin's pure and lovely song”“pure tones”“pure oxygen”Opposite impureSimilar clean, plain, unalloyed, virginal, sublimate, fine, native, pristine +4 moreRelates to purity, purenessSee also clean, processed
- without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers“an arrant fool”“a complete coward”“a consummate fool”“a double-dyed villain”“gross negligence”“a perfect idiot”“pure folly”“what a sodding mess”“stark staring mad”“a thorough nuisance”“a thoroughgoing villain”“utter nonsense”“the unadulterated truth”Synonyms: arrantcompleteconsummatedouble-dyedeverlastinggrossperfectsoddingstarkstaringthoroughthoroughgoingutterunadulteratedOpposite mitigatedSimilar unmitigated
- (of color) being chromatically pure; not diluted with white or grey or blackSynonyms: saturatedOpposite unsaturatedSimilar intense, vivid
- free from discordant qualitiesOpposite inharmoniousSimilar harmonious
- concerned with theory and data rather than practice; opposed to applied“pure science”Opposite appliedSimilar theoretical
- (used of persons or behaviors) having no faults; sinless“I felt pure and sweet as a new baby — Sylvia Plath”“pure as the driven snow”Opposite impureSimilar immaculate, whiteRelates to moralitySee also chaste
- in a state of sexual virginity“pure and vestal modesty”“a spinster or virgin lady”“men have decreed that their women must be pure and virginal”Synonyms: vestalvirginvirginalvirtuous
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Adjective free of flaws or imperfections
- Spanish
- puro
- French
- pur
- German
- rein
- Italian
- puro
- Portuguese
- puro
- Turkish
- saf
- Russian
- чи́стый čístyj
- Arabic
- نَقِيّ naqiyy
- Chinese
- 纯洁 chúnjié
- Japanese
- 純粋 junsui
21 more languages
Adjective free of foreign material or pollutants
- Spanish
- puro
- French
- pur
- German
- rein
- Italian
- puro
- Portuguese
- puro
- Turkish
- saf
- Russian
- чи́стый čístyj
- Arabic
- صَافٍ ṣāfin
- Chinese
- 纯净 chúnjìng
- Dutch
- puur
25 more languages
- Polish
- czysty
- Swedish
- ren
- Greek
- καθαρός katharós
- Korean
- 맑다 makda
- Vietnamese
- tinh khiết
- Hungarian
- merő
- Portuguese (PT)
- puro
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 純淨 chúnjìng
- Breton
- glan
- Catalan
- pur
- Czech
- ryzí
- Danish
- ren
- Esperanto
- pura
- Finnish
- pelkkä
- Georgian
- სუფთა supta
- Hebrew
- טהור tahor
- Icelandic
- hreinn
- Latvian
- tīrs
- Lithuanian
- grynas
- Norwegian
- ren
- Romanian
- sadea
- Serbo-Croatian
- čist
- Swahili
- safi
- Welsh
- pur
- Yiddish
- ריין reyn
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. pur, F. pur, fr. L. purus; akin to putus pure, clear, putare to clean, trim, prune, set in order, settle, reckon, consider, think, Skr. p… to clean, and perh. E. fire. Cf. Putative.
1. Separate from all heterogeneous or extraneous matter; free from mixture or combination; clean; mere; simple; unmixed; as, pure water; pure clay; pure air; pure compassion.
The pure fetters on his shins great.— Geoffrey Chaucer
A guinea is pure gold if it has in it no alloy.— Isaac Watts
2. Free from moral defilement or quilt; hence, innocent; guileless; chaste; — applied to persons. “Keep thyself pure.” 1 Tim. v. 22.
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience.— 1 Tim. i. 5.
3. Free from that which harms, vitiates, weakens, or pollutes; genuine; real; perfect; — applied to things and actions. “Pure religion and impartial laws.” Thomas Tickell “The pure, fine talk of Rome.” Roger Ascham
Such was the origin of a friendship as warm and pure as any that ancient or modern history records.— Thomas Babington Macaulay
4. Scripture Ritually clean; fitted for holy services.
Thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord.— Lev. xxiv. 6.
5. Phonetics Of a single, simple sound or tone; — said of some vowels and the unaspirated consonants.
Pure-impure, completely or totally impure. “The inhabitants were pure-impure pagans.” Thomas Fuller — Pure blue. Chemistry See Methylene blue, under Methylene. — Pure chemistry. See under Chemistry. — Pure mathematics, that portion of mathematics which treats of the principles of the science, or contradistinction to applied mathematics, which treats of the application of the principles to the investigation of other branches of knowledge, or to the practical wants of life. See Mathematics. Davies & Peck (Math. Dict. ) — Pure villenage Feudal Law, a tenure of lands by uncertain services at the will of the lord. Blackstone, Sir William
Synonyms: Unmixed; clear; simple; real; true; genuine; unadulterated; uncorrupted; unsullied; untarnished; unstained; stainless; clean; fair; unspotted; spotless; incorrupt; chaste; unpolluted; undefiled; immaculate; innocent; guiltless; guileless; holy.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54