Inflected forms: pur·er, pur·est 1. Having a homogeneous or uniform composition; not mixed: pure oxygen.2. Free from adulterants or impurities: pure chocolate.3. Free of dirt, defilement, or pollution: “A memory without blot or contamination must be . . . an inexhaustible source of pure refreshment” (Charlotte Brontë). 4. Free of foreign elements. 5. Containing nothing inappropriate or extraneous: a pure literary style.6. Complete; utter: pure folly.7. Having no faults; sinless: “I felt pure and sweet as a new baby” (Sylvia Plath). 8. Chaste; virgin. 9. Of unmixed blood or ancestry. 10.Genetics Produced by self-fertilization or continual inbreeding; homozygous: a pure line.11.Music Free from discordant qualities: pure tones.12.Linguistics Articulated with a single unchanging speech sound; monophthongal: a pure vowel.13. Theoretical: pure science.14.Philosophy Free of empirical elements: pure reason.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English pur, from Old French, from Latin prus. See peu- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:
purely —ADVERB pureness —NOUN
SYNONYMS:
pure, absolute, sheer2, simple, unadulterated These adjectives mean free of extraneous elements: pure gold; absolute oxygen; sheer alcohol; a simple substance; unadulterated coffee.
py
r
rus. See peu
- in Appendix I.
ly —ADVERB
