Definition of: pure

(pyr) adjective
1. Free from mixture or contact with that which weakens, impairs, or pollutes; containing no foreign or vitiating material.
2. Free from adulteration; clear; clean; hence, genuine; stainless: pure food, pure motives.
3. Free from moral defilement; innocent; chaste; unsullied; also, free from coarseness; refined: a pure life, pure language.
4. Free from foreign or imported elements: said especially of language and works of art.
5. Music Mathematically correct as to intervals; free from harsh quality in tone; also, correct in form or style; finished.
6. Philos. Considered apart from its attributes or from concrete experience; abstract; also, a priori.
7. Phonet. Having a single, unvarying tone or sound: said of vowels.
8. Theoretical; concerned with fundamental research, as distinguished from practical application: said of sciences.
9. Genetics Breeding true with respect to one or more characters; homozygous.
10. Nothing but; real; sheer: pure mischief, pure luck. [<OF pur <L purus clean, pure]
—pure′ness noun Synonyms: absolute, chaste, classic, classical, clean, clear, continent, fair, genuine, guileless, guiltless, holy, immaculate, incorrupt, innocent, mere, perfect, real, sheer, simple, spotless, stainless, true, unadulterated, unblemished, uncorrupted, undefiled, unmingled, unmixed, unpolluted, unspotted, unstained, unsullied, untainted, untarnished, upright, virtuous. Material substances are called pure in the strict sense when free from foreign admixture of any kind; as, pure oxygen; the word is often used to signify free from any defiling or objectionable admixture (the original sense); we speak of water as pure when it is bright, clear, and refreshing, even if it contains mineral salts in solution; in the medical and chemical sense, only distilled water (aqua distillata) is pure. In moral and religious use pure denotes positive excellence of a high order; one is innocent who knows nothing of evil and has experienced no touch of temptation; one is pure who, with knowledge of evil and exposure to temptation, keeps heart and soul unstained. Virtuous refers primarily to right action, pure to right feeling; as, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.'' Matt. v 8. See FINE¹, INNOCENT, MODEST, VIRTUOUS. Antonyms: adulterated, defiled, dirty, filthy, gross, impure, indecent, indelicate, lewd, mixed, obscene, polluted, stained, sullied, tainted, tarnished, unchaste, unclean; see also synonyms for FOUL, IMMODEST.