PURE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does pure mean? 

• PURE (adjective)
  The adjective PURE has 7 senses:

1. free of extraneous elements of any kind

2. without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers

3. (of color) being chromatically pure; not diluted with white or grey or black

4. free from discordant qualities

5. concerned with theory and data rather than practice; opposed to applied

6. (used of persons or behaviors) having no faults; sinless

7. in a state of sexual virginity

  Familiarity information: PURE used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PURE (adjective)

Comparative: purer   
Superlative: purest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Free of extraneous elements of any kind

Context example:

pure oxygen

Similar:

clean; fresh (free from impurities)

virginal (untouched or undefiled)

uncontaminated; unpolluted (free from admixture with noxious elements; clean)

unalloyed (free from admixture)

unadulterated (not mixed with impurities)

sublimate (made pure)

straight up ((of an alcoholic drink) stirred or shaken with ice, but served without it)

pristine (completely free from dirt or contamination)

plain; sheer; unmingled; unmixed (not mixed with extraneous elements)

native (as found in nature in the elemental form)

fine (free from impurities; having a high or specified degree of purity)

clean; clear; light; unclouded ((of sound or color) free from anything that dulls or dims)

axenic ((used of cultures of microorganisms) completely free from other organisms)

Also:

clean (ritually clean or pure)

processed (prepared or converted from a natural state by subjecting to a special process)

Attribute:

pureness; purity (being undiluted or unmixed with extraneous material)

Antonym:

impure (combined with extraneous elements)

Derivation:

pureness; purity (being undiluted or unmixed with extraneous material)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers

Synonyms:

arrant; complete; consummate; double-dyed; everlasting; gross; perfect; pure; sodding; staring; stark; thorough; thoroughgoing; unadulterated; utter

Context example:

the unadulterated truth

Similar:

unmitigated (not diminished or moderated in intensity or severity; sometimes used as an intensifier)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(of color) being chromatically pure; not diluted with white or grey or black

Synonyms:

pure; saturated

Similar:

intense; vivid ((of color) having the highest saturation)

Derivation:

pureness (being undiluted or unmixed with extraneous material)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Free from discordant qualities

Similar:

harmonious (musically pleasing)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Concerned with theory and data rather than practice; opposed to applied

Context example:

pure science

Similar:

theoretical (concerned with theories rather than their practical applications)

Sense 6

Meaning:

(used of persons or behaviors) having no faults; sinless

Context example:

pure as the driven snow

Similar:

white (free from moral blemish or impurity; unsullied)

immaculate; undefiled (free from stain or blemish)

Also:

chaste (morally pure (especially not having experienced sexual intercourse))

Attribute:

morality (concern with the distinction between good and evil or right and wrong; right or good conduct)

Antonym:

impure ((used of persons or behaviors) immoral or obscene)

Derivation:

pureness; purity (the state of being unsullied by sin or moral wrong; lacking a knowledge of evil)

Sense 7

Meaning:

In a state of sexual virginity

Synonyms:

pure; vestal; virgin; virginal; virtuous

Context example:

men have decreed that their women must be pure and virginal

Similar:

chaste (morally pure (especially not having experienced sexual intercourse))

Derivation:

pureness (a woman's virtue or chastity)

pureness (the state of being unsullied by sin or moral wrong; lacking a knowledge of evil)

purity (a woman's virtue or chastity)

 Context examples 

In general terms, the findings showed that the resulting fractions presented no toxicity, except for high concentrations of the purest fractions.

(Scientists identify bioactive compounds in cacao pods to develop drugs to combat skeletal disorders, University of Granada)

“Annie, my pure heart!” said the Doctor, “my dear girl!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It will get you ready for a season of pure holiday magic.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

After all, pure spirit was unknowable, a thing to be sensed and divined only; nor could it express itself in terms of itself.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Why am I here to relate the destruction of the best hope and the purest creature on earth?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Oh! but it seemed fresh and pure in the night air after the terror of that vault.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A pure erythroid leukemia occurring in adults.

(Adult Pure Erythroid Leukemia, NCI Thesaurus)

It has a short, hard, dense coat of pure white with characteristic black or liver colored spots randomly splashed over it.

(Dalmatian, NCI Thesaurus)

These details were just to me what they were to them—so many pure and sweet sources of pleasure.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

To make something thinner, weaker, less concentrated, or less pure by adding something to it.

(Dilute, NCI Dictionary)