Adjacent Words

impurity definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: worthless or dangerous material that should be removed; "there were impurities in the water" [syn: impurity, dross]
2: the condition of being impure [syn: impurity, impureness] [ant: pureness, purity]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -ties) Date: 15th century 1. something that is impure or makes something else impure <removing impurities from water> 2. the quality or state of being impure

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 the quality or condition of being impure. 2 an impure thing or constituent. Etymology: F impurité or L impuritas (as IMPURE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Impurity Im*pu"ri*ty, n.; pl. Impurities . [L. impuritas: cf. F. impuret['e].] 1. The condition or quality of being impure in any sense; defilement; foulness; adulteration. Profaneness, impurity, or scandal, is not wit. --Buckminster. 2. That which is, or which renders anything, impure; foul matter, action, language, etc.; a foreign ingredient. Foul impurities reigned among the monkish clergy. --Atterbury. 3. (Script.) Want of ceremonial purity; defilement.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(impurities) 1. Impurities are substances that are present in small quantities in another substance and make it dirty or of an unacceptable quality. The air in the factory is filtered to remove impurities. N-COUNT: usu pl 2. Impurity is the state of being no longer pure, especially sexually pure.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

im-pu'-ri-ti.

See UNCLEANNESS.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Foulness, uncleanness, feculence, defilement, pollution. 2. Unchastity, lewdness, looseness, grossness, coarseness, indelicacy, immodesty, impudicity, smuttiness, obscenity, indecency, ribaldry. 3. Admixture with foreign matter, adulterated condition.

Moby Thesaurus

Gothicism, adulteration, amorality, backsliding, bad taste, barbarism, barbarousness, black sheep, blemish, bombasticness, cacology, cacophony, carnality, clumsiness, coarseness, contaminant, contamination, corruption, criminality, crudeness, cumbrousness, defectibility, defectiveness, deficiency, defilement, degeneration, delinquency, depravity, dinginess, dirt, dirtiness, dissoluteness, dysphemism, erroneousness, evil, evil nature, fallibility, faultiness, filth, filthiness, foreign body, foreign intruder, foulness, gracelessness, griminess, grossness, grubbiness, harshness, heaviness, ill-balanced sentences, immaturity, immorality, immundity, impairment, imperfection, impropriety, impurities, inaccuracy, inadequacy, inadequateness, incompleteness, inconcinnity, incorrectness, indecency, indecorousness, inelegance, inelegancy, inexactitude, inexactness, infelicity, intruder, lack, lack of finish, lack of polish, lasciviousness, leadenness, lecherousness, lewdness, libidinousness, licentiousness, looseness, lubricity, lust, lustfulness, maculacy, mediocrity, messiness, miriness, misfit, monkey wrench, moral delinquency, mote, muddiness, obscenity, oddball, patchiness, peccability, pollution, pompousness, ponderousness, poor diction, prodigality, promiscuity, promiscuousness, prurience, recidivism, roughness, rudeness, salaciousness, scruffiness, sesquipedalianism, sesquipedality, shortage, shortcoming, sinfulness, sketchiness, slipshod construction, sliver, slovenliness, smut, soiledness, speck, splinter, stiltedness, stone, sulliedness, taintedness, tastelessness, turgidity, unangelicalness, unchasteness, unchastity, uncleanliness, uncleanness, uncouthness, undevelopment, uneuphoniousness, unevenness, ungodliness, ungoodness, ungracefulness, unmorality, unperfectedness, unpureness, unrefinement, unrighteousness, unsaintliness, unseemliness, unsoundness, untidiness, unvirtuousness, unwieldiness, vice, viciousness, vileness, vulgarism, vulgarity, want, wantonness, waywardness, weed, wickedness, wrongdoing