purity
Americannoun
-
the condition or quality of being pure; freedom from anything that debases, contaminates, pollutes, etc..
the purity of drinking water.
-
freedom from any admixture or modifying addition.
-
ceremonial or ritual cleanness.
-
freedom from guilt or evil; innocence.
-
physical chastity; virginity.
-
freedom from foreign or inappropriate elements; careful correctness.
purity of expression.
-
Optics. the chroma, saturation, or degree of freedom from white of a given color.
-
cleanness or spotlessness, as of garments.
noun
-
the state or quality of being pure
-
physics a measure of the amount of a single-frequency colour in a mixture of spectral and achromatic colours
Other Word Forms
- hyperpurity noun
- superpurity noun
Etymology
Origin of purity
1175–1225; < Late Latin pūritās ( pure, -ity ); replacing Middle English pur ( e ) te < Anglo-French < Late Latin, as above
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even enrichment to 1.5% purity would constitute half or more of the technical effort needed to achieve weapons-grade uranium.
And Iran is now offering new proposals such as diluting its highly enriched uranium which, at 60% purity, is dangerously close to weapons grade.
From BBC
Few things are less edifying than a mob that has decided to rectify a great wrong in the name of justice and purity.
Currently, that includes high purity water on chips.
From Barron's
Getting in more vegetables isn’t a purity test.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
