Adjacent Words

Pure definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PURE, a. [L. purus.]
1. Separate from all heterogeneous or extraneous matter; clear; free from mixture; as pure water; pure clay; pure sand; pure air; pure silver of gold. Pure wine is very scare.
2. Free from moral defilement; without spot; not sullied or tarnished; incorrupt; undebased by moral turpitude; holy.
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil. Habukkuk 1. Proverbs 20.
3. Genuine; real; true; incorrupt; unadulterated; as pure religion. James 1.
4. Unmixed; separate from any other subject or from every thing foreign; as pure mathematics.
5. Free from guilt; guiltless; innocent.
No hand of strife is pure, but that which wins.
6. Not vitiated with improper or corrupt words or phrases; as a pure style of discourse or composition.
7. Disinterested; as pure benevolence.
8. Chaste; as a pure virgin.
9. Free from vice or moral turpitude. Titus 1.
10. Ceremonially clean; unpolluted. Ezra 6.
11. Free from any thing improper; as, his motives are pure.
12. Mere; absolute; that and that only; unconnected with any thing else; as a pure villain. He did that from pure compassion, or pure good nature.
PURE, v.t. To purify; to cleanse. [Not in use.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: 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" [ant: impure]
2: 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 thoroughgoing villain"; "utter nonsense"; "the unadulterated truth" [syn: arrant, complete, consummate, double-dyed, everlasting, gross, perfect, pure, sodding, stark, staring, thoroughgoing, utter, unadulterated]
3: (of color) being chromatically pure; not diluted with white or grey or black [syn: saturated, pure] [ant: unsaturated]
4: free from discordant qualities
5: concerned with theory and data rather than practice; opposed to applied; "pure science"
6: (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" [ant: impure]
7: 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" [syn: pure, vestal, virgin, virginal, virtuous]

Merriam Webster's

adjective (purer; purest) Etymology: Middle English pur, from Anglo-French, from Latin purus; akin to Old High German fowen to sift, Sanskrit pun?ti he cleanses, Middle Irish úr fresh, new Date: 14th century 1. a. (1) unmixed with any other matter <pure gold> (2) free from dust, dirt, or taint <pure springwater> (3) spotless, stainless b. free from harshness or roughness and being in tune — used of a musical tone c. of a vowel characterized by no appreciable alteration of articulation during utterance 2. a. being thus and no other ; sheer, unmitigated <pure folly> b. (1) abstract, theoretical <pure research> (2) a priori <pure mechanics> c. not directed toward exposition of reality or solution of practical problems <pure literature> d. being nonobjective and to be appraised on formal and technical qualities only <pure form> 3. a. (1) free from what vitiates, weakens, or pollutes (2) containing nothing that does not properly belong b. free from moral fault or guilt c. marked by chastity ; continent d. (1) of pure blood and unmixed ancestry (2) homozygous in and breeding true for one or more characters e. ritually clean 4. having exactly the talents or skills needed for a particular role <a pure shooter in basketball> Synonyms: see chaste • pureness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 unmixed, unadulterated (pure white; pure alcohol). 2 of unmixed origin or descent (pure-blooded). 3 chaste. 4 morally or sexually undefiled; not corrupt. 5 guiltless. 6 sincere. 7 mere, simple, nothing but, sheer (it was pure malice). 8 (of a sound) not discordant, perfectly in tune. 9 (of a subject of study) dealing with abstract concepts and not practical application. 10 a (of a vowel) not joined with another in a diphthong. b (of a consonant) not accompanied by another. Phrases and idioms: pure science a science depending on deductions from demonstrated truths (e.g. mathematics or logic), or one studied without practical applications. Derivatives: pureness n. Etymology: ME f. OF pur pure f. L purus

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pure Pure, a. [Compar. Purer; superl. Purest.] [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. --Chaucer. A guinea is pure gold if it has in it no alloy. --I. 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.'' --Tickell. ``The pure, fine talk of Rome.'' --Ascham. Such was the origin of a friendship as warm and pure as any that ancient or modern history records. --Macaulay. 4. (Script.) 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.'' --Fuller. Pure blue. (Chem.) 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. Syn: 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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(purer, purest) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A pure substance is not mixed with anything else. ...a carton of pure orange juice. ADJ: usu ADJ n 2. Something that is pure is clean and does not contain any harmful substances. In remote regions, the air is pure and the crops are free of poisonous insecticides. ...demands for purer and cleaner river water. ADJ • purity They worried about the purity of tap water. N-UNCOUNT: with poss 3. If you describe something such as a colour, a sound, or a type of light as pure, you mean that it is very clear and represents a perfect example of its type. ...flowers in a whole range of blues with the occasional pure white. ADJ: usu ADJ n • purity The soaring purity of her voice conjured up the frozen bleakness of the Far North. N-UNCOUNT 4. If you describe a form of art or a philosophy as pure, you mean that it is produced or practised according to a standard or form that is expected of it. (FORMAL) Nicholson never swerved from his aim of making pure and simple art. ADJ: usu ADJ n • purity ...verse of great purity, sonority of rhythm, and symphonic form. N-UNCOUNT 5. Pure science or pure research is concerned only with theory and not with how this theory can be used in practical ways. Physics isn't just about pure science with no immediate applications... ? applied ADJ: ADJ n 6. Pure means complete and total. The old man turned to give her a look of pure surprise... = sheer ADJ [emphasis]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Clean, clear, unsullied, unstained, stainless, undefiled, spotless, unspotted, fair, immaculate, untainted, untarnished, unpolluted, uncorrupted, unblemished. 2. Innocent, guiltless, guileless, true, virtuous, upright, honest, incorrupt, holy. 3. Genuine, unadulterated, unmixed, real, perfect, simple, clear. 4. Modest, chaste. 5. Mere, absolute, sheer. 6. Classic, classical, Attic.

Moby Thesaurus

Attic, Christian, Christlike, Christly, Ciceronian, God-fearing, Spartan, above suspicion, absolute, abstract, academical, aesthetic, all-embracing, all-encompassing, all-out, all-pervading, angelic, antiseptic, artistic, ascetic, austere, authentic, bald, bare, basic, beyond all praise, blameless, blasted, bleached, blessed, blotless, bona fide, born, bright, broad-based, candid, card-carrying, chaste, choice, classic, classical, clean, cleanly, clear, common, commonplace, complete, comprehensive, conceptual, confounded, congenital, conjectural, consummate, correct, creditable, dainty, decent, decorous, deep-dyed, defectless, dinkum, direct, dirt-free, disinfected, downright, dry, dull, dyed-in-the-wool, easy, egregious, elegant, elementary, erect, essential, estimable, ethical, everyday, excellent, exemplary, exhaustive, fair, fastidious, faultless, finished, flawless, following the letter, frank, fresh, full of integrity, fundamental, garden, garden-variety, genuine, godlike, godly, godly-minded, good, graceful, gracile, gross, guileless, guiltless, heavenly, high-minded, high-principled, highly respectable, holy, holy-minded, homely, homespun, homogeneous, honest, honest-to-God, honorable, household, hypothetical, ideal, immaculate, impeccable, in good taste, inartificial, inculpable, indefectible, indefective, indivisible, infallible, infernal, innocent, intact, intensive, inviolate, irreducible, irreproachable, just, just right, kosher, law-abiding, law-loving, law-revering, lawful, lean, legitimate, lifelike, limpid, literal, lucid, maidenly, manly, matter-of-fact, mere, modest, monolithic, moral, natural, naturalistic, neat, noble, nondescript, nonpolluted, notional, of a piece, of choice, of cleanly habits, of quality, omnibus, omnipresent, open, ordinary, original, otherworldly, out-and-out, outright, pasteurized, peerless, pellucid, perfect, perspicuous, pervasive, philosophical, pious, plain, plain-speaking, plain-spoken, pleasing, plenary, plumb, polished, primal, primary, principled, proper, prosaic, prosing, prosy, pure and simple, pure in heart, purehearted, quiet, quintessential, radical, real, realistic, refined, regular, reputable, respectable, restrained, right, right-minded, righteous, rightful, ritually pure, round, rustic, saintlike, saintly, sanitary, seraphic, severe, sexually innocent, sheer, shiny, simon-pure, simple, simple-speaking, sincere, single, sinless, smut-free, smutless, snowy, sober, solid, spare, speculative, spiritual, spiritual-minded, spotless, stainless, stark, sterile, sterilized, sterling, straight, straightforward, subdued, sure-enough, sweeping, sweet, tahar, taintless, tasteful, terse, theoretical, thorough, thoroughgoing, through-and-through, total, trim, true, true to life, true to nature, true to reality, true-dealing, true-devoted, true-disposing, true-souled, true-spirited, truehearted, tubbed, ubiquitous, unadorned, unadulterated, unaffected, unalloyed, unassumed, unassuming, unbesmirched, unblamable, unblemished, unblotted, uncluttered, uncolored, unconcocted, unconditional, uncontaminated, uncopied, uncorrupt, uncorrupted, uncounterfeited, undefiled, understated, undifferenced, undifferentiated, undiluted, undisguised, undisguising, undistorted, unearthly, unexaggerated, unfabricated, unfanciful, unfaultable, unfeigned, unfeigning, unfictitious, unflattering, uniform, unimaginative, unimagined, unimitated, unimpeachable, uninvented, universal, unlabored, unmitigated, unmixed, unmuddied, unobtrusive, unpoetical, unpolluted, unpretended, unpretending, unqualified, unreserved, unrestricted, unromantic, unsimulated, unsmirched, unsmudged, unsoiled, unspecious, unspotted, unstained, unsullied, unsynthetic, untainted, untarnished, unvarnished, unworldly, upright, uprighteous, upstanding, utter, verbal, verbatim, veridical, verisimilar, veritable, vestal, virgin, virginal, virtuous, well-chosen, well-scrubbed, well-washed, white, whitened, wholesale, wholesome, word-for-word, workaday, workday, worthy, yeomanly