Adjacent Words

Impure definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

IMPU'RE, a. [L. impurus; in and purus, pure.]
1. Not pure; foul; feculent; tinctured; mixed or impregnated with extraneous substance; as impure water or air; impure salt or magnesia.
2. Obscene; as impure language or ideas.
3. Unchaste; lewd; unclean; as impure actions.
4. Defiled by sin or guilt; unholy; as persons.
5. Unhallowed; unholy; as things.
6. Unclean; in a legal sense; not purified according to the ceremonial law of Moses.
IMPU'RE, v.t. To render foul; to defile. [Not used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: combined with extraneous elements [ant: pure]
2: (used of persons or behaviors) immoral or obscene; "impure thoughts" [ant: pure]
3: having a physical or moral blemish so as to make impure according to dietary or ceremonial laws; "unclean meat"; "and the swine...is unclean to you"-Leviticus
11:3 [syn: unclean, impure] [ant: clean]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French, from Latin impurus, from in- + purus pure Date: 15th century not pure: as a. lewd, unchaste b. containing something unclean ; foul <impure water> c. ritually unclean d. mixed or impregnated with an extraneous and usually unwanted substance <an impure chemical> • impurely adverb • impureness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 mixed with foreign matter; adulterated. 2 dirty. 3 unchaste. 4 (of a colour) mixed with another colour. Derivatives: impurely adv. impureness n. Etymology: ME f. L impurus (as IN-(1), purus pure)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Impure Im*pure", a. [L. impurus; pref. im- not + purus pure: cf. F. impur. See Pure.] 1. Not pure; not clean; dirty; foul; filthy; containing something which is unclean or unwholesome; mixed or impregnated extraneous substances; adulterated; as, impure water or air; impure drugs, food, etc. 2. Defiled by sin or guilt; unholy; unhallowed; -- said of persons or things. 3. Unchaste; lewd; unclean; obscene; as, impure language or ideas. ``Impure desires.'' --Cowper. 4. (Script.) Not purified according to the ceremonial law of Moses; unclean. 5. (Language) Not accurate; not idiomatic; as, impure Latin; an impure style.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Impure Im*pure", v. t. To defile; to pollute. [Obs.] --Bp. Hall.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

A substance that is impure is not of good quality because it has other substances mixed with it. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Foul, unclean, dirty, filthy, feculent, defiled, polluted. 2. Unchaste, unclean, lewd, loose, gross, coarse, indelicate, immodest, smutty, obscene, indecent, ribald, bawdy. 3. Mixed, adulterated, admixed with foreign matter or elements.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

A modern term for a lady of easy virtue.

Moby Thesaurus

Adamic, Doric, Fescennine, Rabelaisian, adulterated, alloyed, backsliding, barbaric, barbarous, bawdy, belowstairs, besmirched, black, blemished, blue, cacophonous, carnal, clumsy, coarse, common, contaminated, corrupted, crude, damaged, debased, defective, deficient, defiled, degenerate, depraved, dirty, dissolute, doggerel, dysphemistic, erring, erroneous, evil, fallen, fallible, faulty, feculent, filthy, fleshly, forbidden, foul, foul-mouthed, foul-spoken, foul-tongued, found wanting, frail, fulsome, graceless, gross, grubby, harsh, immature, immodest, immoral, impaired, imperfect, imprecise, improper, in bad taste, inaccurate, inadequate, incomplete, inconcinnate, inconcinnous, incorrect, indecent, indecorous, inelegant, inexact, infected, infelicitous, infirm, ithyphallic, lacking, lapsed, lascivious, lecherous, lewd, libidinous, licentious, loose, low, lubricious, lubricous, lurid, lustful, maculate, makeshift, mediocre, mixed, nasty, native, nonkosher, not perfect, obscene, of easy virtue, off, offensive, outlandish, partial, patchy, peccable, polluted, pornographic, postlapsarian, prodigal, promiscuous, prurient, putrescent, putrid, raunchy, raw, recidivist, recidivistic, ribald, ritually unclean, rotten, rude, run-of-mine, salacious, scarlet, scummy, scurrile, scurrilous, sensual, short, sinful, sketchy, smirched, smoking-room, smutty, soiled, soily, squalid, sullied, sultry, tainted, tasteless, tref, unangelic, unbathed, unchaste, unclean, uncleanly, uncourtly, uncouth, undeveloped, undignified, uneuphonious, uneven, unfelicitous, unfinished, ungodly, ungood, ungraceful, ungraded, unhallowed, unholy, unperfected, unpolished, unprintable, unpure, unrefined, unrepeatable, unrighteous, unsaintly, unscoured, unscrubbed, unseemly, unsorted, unsound, unswept, unthorough, unvirginal, unvirtuous, unwashed, unwiped, vile, virtueless, vitiated, vulgar, wanting, wanton, wayward, weak, wicked