pure

[pyoo r] /pyʊər/
adjective, purer, purest.
1.
free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind; free from extraneous matter:
pure gold; pure water.
2.
unmodified by an admixture; simple or homogeneous.
3.
of unmixed descent or ancestry:
a pure breed of dog.
4.
free from foreign or inappropriate elements:
pure Attic Greek.
5.
clear; free from blemishes:
pure skin.
6.
(of literary style) straightforward; unaffected.
7.
abstract or theoretical (opposed to applied):
pure science.
8.
without any discordant quality; clear and true:
pure tones in music.
9.
absolute; utter; sheer:
to sing for pure joy.
10.
being that and nothing else; mere:
a pure accident.
11.
clean, spotless, or unsullied:
pure hands.
12.
untainted with evil; innocent:
pure in heart.
13.
physically chaste; virgin.
14.
ceremonially or ritually clean.
15.
free of or without guilt; guiltless.
16.
independent of sense or experience:
pure knowledge.
17.
Biology, Genetics.
  1. homozygous.
  2. containing only one characteristic for a trait.
18.
Phonetics, monophthongal.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English pur < Old French < Latin pūrus clean, unmixed, plain, pure
Related forms
pureness, noun
hyperpure, adjective
hyperpurely, adverb
hyperpureness, noun
superpure, adjective
unpure, adjective
unpurely, adverb
unpureness, noun
Synonyms
1. unmixed, unadulterated, unalloyed, uncontaminated, untainted, unstained, undefiled, untarnished, immaculate, unpolluted, uncorrupted. See clean. 12. modest, virtuous, undefiled.
Examples from the web for pure
  • Rainwater can be wonderfully pure when it falls through unpolluted air directly into a clean, properly constructed container.
  • Ever since, carmakers have been placing their low-emission bets more on plug-in hybrids, clean diesels or pure electric vehicles.
  • Casual observers equate the development office with raising money, pure and simple.
  • What she had in mind was a vacation, pure and simple.
  • Some kinds of arbitrage are completely risk-free-this is pure arbitrage.
  • To more than two billion people, fresh, pure water is more valuable than gold.
  • There needs to be national standards and a national goal of pure science--science where no one, nor any corporation benefits.
  • The diminutive engines that power our global village start as pure silicon.
  • In seedling plants, blossom color varies from white through pure light blue to sky blue.
  • pure water is often a fairly rare commodity that requires significant energy to produce.
British Dictionary definitions for pure

pure

/pjʊə/
adjective
1.
not mixed with any extraneous or dissimilar materials, elements, etc: pure nitrogen
2.
free from tainting or polluting matter; clean; wholesome: pure water
3.
free from moral taint or defilement: pure love
4.
(prenominal) (intensifier): pure stupidity, a pure coincidence
5.
(of a subject, etc) studied in its theoretical aspects rather than for its practical applications: pure mathematics, pure science Compare applied
6.
(of a vowel) pronounced with more or less unvarying quality without any glide; monophthongal
7.
(of a consonant) not accompanied by another consonant
8.
of supposedly unmixed racial descent
9.
(genetics, biology) breeding true for one or more characteristics; homozygous
10.
(music)
  1. (of a sound) composed of a single frequency without overtones
  2. (of intervals in the system of just intonation) mathematically accurate in respect to the ratio of one frequency to another
Derived Forms
pureness, noun
Word Origin
C13: from Old French pur, from Latin pūrus unstained
Word Origin and History for pure
adj.

c.1300 (late 12c. as a surname, and Old English had purlamb "lamb without a blemish"), "unmixed," also "absolutely, entirely," from Old French pur "pure, simple, absolute, unalloyed," figuratively "simple, sheer, mere" (12c.), from Latin purus "clean, clear; unmixed; unadorned; chaste, undefiled," from PIE root *peue- "to purify, cleanse" (cf. Latin putus "clear, pure;" Sanskrit pavate "purifies, cleanses," putah "pure;" Middle Irish ur "fresh, new;" Old High German fowen "to sift").

Replaced Old English hlutor. Meaning "free from moral corruption" is first recorded mid-14c. In reference to bloodlines, attested from late 15c.

pure in Medicine

pure (pyur)
adj. pur·er, pur·est

  1. Having a homogeneous or uniform composition; not mixed.

  2. Free from adulterants or impurities.

  3. Produced by self-fertilization or continual inbreeding; homozygous.