Pure

• POS: Adjective

CIDE DICTIONARY

Pure, a. [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.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "The pure fetters on his shins great."  [1913 Webster]

  "A guinea is pure gold if it has in it no alloy."  [1913 Webster]
•  Free from moral defilement or quilt; hence, innocent; guileless; chaste; -- applied to persons.  1 Tim. v. 22.  [1913 Webster]

  "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience."  [1913 Webster]
•  Free from that which harms, vitiates, weakens, or pollutes; genuine; real; perfect; -- applied to things and actions.  [1913 Webster]

  "Such was the origin of a friendship as warm and pure as any that ancient or modern history records."  [1913 Webster]
•  Ritually clean; fitted for holy services.  [1913 Webster]

  "Thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord."  [1913 Webster]
•  Of a single, simple sound or tone; -- said of some vowels and the unaspirated consonants.  [1913 Webster]

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; h

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Pure, 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.

Idiom

pure science a science depending on deductions from demonstrated truths (e.g. mathematics or logic), or one studied without practical applications.

Derivative

pureness n.

Etymology

ME f. OF pur pure f. L purus

THESAURUS

Pure

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

ROGET THESAURUS

Pure

Plainness

N plainness, simplicity, severity, plain terms, plain English, Saxon English, household words, plain, simple, unornamented, unadorned, unvarnished, homely, homespun, neat, severe, chaste, pure, Saxon, commonplace, matter-of- fact, natural, prosaic, dry, unvaried, monotonous, in plain terms, in plain words, in plain English, in plain common parlance, point-blank.

Elegance

N elegance, purity, grace, ease, gracefulness, readiness, concinnity, euphony, numerosity, Atticism, classicalism, classicism, well rounded periods, well turned periods, flowing periods, the right word in the right place, antithesis, purist, elegant, polished, classical, Attic, correct, Ciceronian, artistic, chaste, pure, Saxon, academical, graceful, easy, readable, fluent, flowing, tripping, unaffected, natural, unlabored, mellifluous, euphonious, euphemism, euphemistic, numerose, rhythmical, felicitous, happy, neat, well put, neatly put, well expressed, neatly expressed.

Cleanness

N cleanness, cleanliness, purity, cleaning, purification, defecation, purgation, lustration, detersion, abstersion, epuration, mundation, ablution, lavation, colature, disinfection, drainage, sewerage, lavatory, laundry, washhouse, washerwoman, laundress, dhobi, laundryman, washerman, scavenger, dustman, sweep, white wings brush, broom, besom, mop, rake, shovel, sieve, riddle, screen, filter, blotter, napkin, cloth, maukin, malkin, handkerchief, towel, sudary, doyley, doily, duster, sponge, mop, swab, cover, drugget, wash, lotion, detergent, cathartic, purgative, purifier, disinfectant, aperient, benzene, benzine benzol, benolin, bleaching powder, chloride of lime, dentifrice, deobstruent, laxative, clean, cleanly, pure, immaculate, spotless, stainless, taintless, trig, without a stain, unstained, unspotted, unsoiled, unsullied, untainted, uninfected, sweet, sweet as a nut, neat, spruce, tidy, trim, gimp, clean as a new penny, like a cat in pattens, cleaned, kempt, abstergent, cathartic, cleansing, purifying, neatly, clean as a whistle.

Simpleness

N simpleness, purity, homogeneity, elimination, sifting, purification, simple, uniform, of a piece, homogeneous, single, pure, sheer, neat, unmixed, unmingled, unblended, uncombined, uncompounded, elementary, undecomposed, unadulterated, unsophisticated, unalloyed, untinged, unfortified, pur et simple, incomplex, free from, exempt from, exclusive, simple, only.

Artlessness

N artlessness, nature, simplicity, innocence, bonhomie, naivete, abandon, candor, sincerity, singleness of purpose, singleness of heart, honesty, plain speaking, epanchement, rough diamond, matter of fact man, le palais de verite, enfant terrible, artless, natural, pure, native, confiding, simple, lain, inartificial, untutored, unsophisticated, ingenu, unaffected, naive, sincere, frank, open, open as day, candid, ingenuous, guileless, unsuspicious, honest, innocent, Arcadian, undesigning, straightforward, unreserved, aboveboard, simple-minded, single-minded, frank-hearted, open-hearted, single-hearted, simple-hearted, free-spoken, plain-spoken, outspoken, blunt, downright, direct, matter of fact, unpoetical, unflattering, in plain words, in plain English, without mincing the matter, not to mince the matter, Davus sum non Oedipus, liberavi animam meam, as frank as rain on cherry blossoms.

Purity

N purity, decency, decorum, delicacy, continence, chastity, honesty, virtue, modesty, shame, pudicity, pucelage, virginity, vestal, virgin, Joseph, Hippolytus, Lucretia, Diana, prude, pure, undefiled, modest, delicate, decent, decorous, virginibus puerisque, simon-pure, chaste, continent, virtuous, honest, Platonic, virgin, unsullied, cherry, as chaste as unsunn'd snow, a soul as white as heaven, 'tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity, to the pure all things are pure.

Piety

N piety, religion, theism, faith, religiousness, holiness, saintship, religionism, sanctimony, reverence, humility, veneration, devotion, prostration, grace, unction, edification, sanctity, sanctitude, consecration, spiritual existence, odor of sanctity, beauty of holiness, theopathy, beatification, adoption, regeneration, conversion, justification, sanctification, salvation, inspiration, bread of life, Body and Blood of Christ, believer, convert, theist, Christian, devotee, pietist, the good, the righteous, the just, the believing, the elect, Saint, Madonna, Notre Dame, Our Lady, the children of God, the children of the Kingdom, the children of the light, pious, religious, devout, devoted, reverent, godly, heavenly- minded, humble, pure, holy, spiritual, pietistic, saintly, saint-like, seraphic, sacred, solemn, believing, faithful, Christian, Catholic, elected, adopted, justified, sanctified, regenerated, inspired, consecrated, converted, unearthly, not of the earth, ne vile fano, pure-eyed Faith, thou hovering angel girt with golden wings.

Worship

N worship, adoration, devotion, aspiration, homage, service, humiliation, kneeling, genuflection, prostration, prayer, invocation, supplication, rogation, intercession, orison, holy breathing, petition, collect, litany, Lord's prayer, paternoster, beadroll, latria, dulia, hyperdulia, vigils, revival, cult, anxious meeting, camp meeting, ebenezer, virginal, thanksgiving, giving thanks, returning thanks, grace, praise, glorification, benediction, doxology, hosanna, hallelujah, allelujah, Te Deum, non nobis Domine, nunc dimittis, paean, benschen, Ave Maria, O Salutaris, Sanctus, The Annunciation, Tersanctus, Trisagion, psalm, psalmody, hymn, plain song, chant, chaunt, response, anthem, motet, antiphon, antiphony, oblation, sacrifice, incense, libation, burnt offering, heave offering, votive offering, offertory, discipline, self-discipline, self-examination, self-denial, fasting, divine service, office, duty, exercises, morning prayer, mass, matins, evensong, vespers, undernsong, tierce, holyday, worshipper, congregation, communicant, celebrant, worshipping, devout, devotional, reverent, pure, solemn, fervid, Int, hallelujah, allelujah!, hosanna!, glory be to God!, O Lord!, pray God that!, God grant, God bless, God save, God forbid!, sursum corda, making their lives a prayer, ora et labora, prayers ardent open heaven.

Taste

N taste, good taste, refined taste, cultivated taste, delicacy, refinement, fine feeling, gust, gusto, tact, finesse, nicety, to prepon, polish, elegance, grace, judgment, discernment, dilettantism, dilettanteism, virtu, fine art, culture, cultivation, aesthetics, man of taste, connoisseur, judge, critic, conoscente, virtuoso, amateur, dilettante, Aristarchus, Corinthian, arbiter elegantiarum, stagirite, euphemist, caviare to the general, in good taste, cute, tasteful, tasty, unaffected, pure, chaste, classical, attic, cultivated, refined, dainty, esthetic, aesthetic, artistic, elegant, euphemistic, to one's taste, to one's mind, after one's fancy, comme il faut, tire a quatre epingles, elegantly, nihil tetigit quod non ornavit, chacun a son gout, oculi pictura tenentur aures cantibus, taste, flavor, gust, gusto, savor, gout, relish, sapor, sapidity, twang, smack, smatch, aftertaste, tang, tasting, degustation, gustation, palate, tongue, tooth, stomach, sapid, saporific, gustable, gustatory, gustful, strong, gamy, palatable.

Probity

N probity, integrity, rectitude, uprightness, honesty, faith, honor, bonne foi, good faith, bona fides, purity, clean hands, fairness, fair play, justice, equity, impartiality, principle, even-handedness, grace, constancy, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, incorruption, incorruptibility, trustworthiness, truth, candor, singleness of heart, veracity, tender conscience, punctilio, delicacy, nicety, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, scruple, point, point of honor, punctuality, dignity, (repute), respectability, respectableness, gentilhomme, gentleman, man of honor, man of his word, fidus Achates, preux chevalier, galantuomo, truepenny, trump, brick, true Briton, white man, court of honor, a fair field and no favor, argumentum ad verecundiam, upright, honest, honest as daylight, veracious, virtuous, honorable, fair, right, just, equitable, impartial, evenhanded, square, fair and aboveboard, open and aboveboard, white, constant, constant as the northern star, faithful, loyal, staunch, true, true blue, true to one's colors, true to the core, true as the needle to the pole, marble-constant, true- hearted, trusty, trustworthy, as good as one's word, to be depended on, incorruptible, straightforward, frank, candid, open-hearted, conscientious, tender-conscienced, right-minded, high-principled, high-minded, scrupulous, religious, strict, nice, punctilious, correct, punctual, respectable, reputable, gentlemanlike, inviolable, inviolate, unviolated, unbroken, unbetrayed, unbought, unbribed, innocent, pure, stainless, unstained, untarnished, unsullied, untainted, unperjured, uncorrupt, uncorrupted, undefiled, undepraved, undebauched, integer vitae scelerisque purus, justus et tenax propositi, chivalrous, jealous of honor, sans peur et sans reproche, high-spirited, supramundane, unworldly, other-worldly, overscrupulous, honorable, bona fide, on the square, in good faith, honor bright, foro conscientiae, with clean hands, a face untaught to feign, bene qui latuit bene vixit, mens sibi conscia recti, probitas laudatur et alget, fidelis ad urnam, his heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth, loyaute m'oblige, loyaute n'a honte, what stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?.

Virtue

N virtue, virtuousness, morality, moral rectitude, integrity, nobleness, morals, ethics, cardinal virtues, merit, worth, desert, excellence, credit, self-control, self-denial, well-doing, good actions, good behavior, discharge of duty, fulfillment of duty, performance of duty, well-spent life, innocence, virtuous, good, innocent, meritorious, deserving, worthy, desertful, correct, dutiful, duteous, moral, right, righteous, right- minded, well-intentioned, creditable, laudable, commendable, praiseworthy, above all praise, beyond all praise, excellent, admirable, sterling, pure, noble, whole-souled, exemplary, matchless, peerless, saintly, saint-like, heaven-born, angelic, seraphic, godlike, virtuously, adj, e merito, esse quam videri bonus malebat, Schonheit vergeht Tugend besteht, virtue the greatest of all monarchies, virtus laudatur et alget, virtus vincit invidiam.

Innocence

N innocence, guiltlessness, incorruption, impeccability, clean hands, clear conscience, mens sibi conscia recti, innocent, lamb, dove, innocent, not guilty, unguilty, guiltless, faultless, sinless, stainless, bloodless, spotless, clear, immaculate, rectus in curia, unspotted, unblemished, unerring, undefiled, unhardened, Saturnian, Arcadian, inculpable, unculpable, unblamed, unblamable, blameless, unfallen, inerrable, above suspicion, irreproachable, irreprovable, irreprehensible, unexceptionable, unobjectionable, unimpeachable, salvable, venial, harmless, inoffensive, innoxious, innocuous, dove-like, lamb-like, pure, harmless as doves, innocent as a lamb, innocent as the babe unborn, more sinned against than sinning, virtuous, unreproved, unimpeached, unreproached, innocently, with clean hands, with a clear conscience, with a safe conscience, murus aeneus conscientia sana.

Truth

N truth, fact, reality, plain fact, plain matter of fact, nature, truth, verity, gospel, gospel truth, God's honest truth, orthodoxy, authenticity, veracity, correctness, correctitude, accuracy, exactitude, exactness, preciseness, precision, delicacy, rigor, mathematical precision, punctuality, clockwork precision, conformity to rule, nicety, orthology, ipsissima verba, realism, plain truth, honest truth, sober truth, naked truth, unalloyed truth, unqualified truth, stern truth, exact truth, intrinsic truth, nuda veritas, the very thing, not an illusion, real Simon Pure, unvarnished tale, unvarnished truth, the truth the whole truth and nothing but the trut, just the thing, real, actual, veritable, true, right, correct, certain, substantially true, categorically true, definitively true, true to the letter, true as gospel, unimpeachable, veracious, unreconfuted, unconfuted, unideal, unimagined, realistic, exact, accurate, definite, precise, well-defined, just, just so, so, strict, severe, close, literal, rigid, rigorous, scrupulous, religiously exact, punctual, mathematical, scientific, faithful, constant, unerring, curious, particular, nice, delicate, fine, clean-cut, clear-cut, verified, empirically true, experimentally verified, substantiated, proven (demonstrated), rigorously true, unquestionably true, true by definition, genuine, authentic, legitimate, orthodox, official, ex officio, pure, natural, sound, sterling, unsophisticated, unadulterated, unvarnished, unalloyed, uncolored, in its true colors, pukka, well-grounded, well founded, solid, substantial, tangible, valid, undistorted, undisguised, unaffected, unexaggerated, unromantic, unflattering, truly, verily, indeed, really, in reality, with truth, certainly, actually, in effect, exactly, ad amussim, verbatim, verbatim et literatim, word for word, literally, literatim, totidem vervis, sic, to the letter, chapter and verse, ipsissimis verbis, ad unguem, to an inch, to a nicety, to a hair, to a tittle, to a turn, to a T, au pied de la lettre, neither more nor less, in every respect, in all respects, sous tous les rapports, at any rate, at all events, strictly speaking, the truth is, the fact is, rem acu tetigisti, en suivant la verite, ex facto jus oritur, la verita e figlia del empo, locos y ninos dicen la verdad, crazy people and children tell the truth, nihil est veritatis luce dulcius, veritas nunquam perit, veritatem dies aperit, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, just the facts, ma'am, just the facts.

Veracity

N veracity, truthfulness, frankness truth, sincerity, candor, unreserve, honesty, fidelity, plain dealing, bona fides, love of truth, probity, ingenuousness, the truth the whole truth and nothing but the trut, honest truth, sober truth, unvarnished tale, light of truth, truthful, true, veracious, veridical, scrupulous, sincere, candid, frank, open, straightforward, unreserved, open hearted, true hearted, simple-hearted, honest, trustworthy, undissembling &c (dissemble), guileless, pure, truth- loving, unperjured, true blue, as good as one's word, unaffected, unfeigned, bona fide, outspoken, ingenuous, undisguised, uncontrived, truly, in plain words, in truth, with truth, of a truth, in good truth, as the dial to the sun, as the needle to the pole, honor bright, troth, in good sooth, in good earnest, unfeignedly, with no nonsense, in sooth, sooth to say, bona fide, in foro conscientiae, without equivocation, cartes sur table, from the bottom of one's heart, by my troth, di il vero a affronterai il diavolo, Dichtung und Wahrheit, esto quod esse videris, magna est veritas et praevalet, that golden key that opes the palace of eternity, veritas odium parit, veritatis simplex oratio est, verite sans peur.