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Meaning & use

pure

adjective·Everyday

Last updated

UK/pjʊə/
US/pjʊr/

Meanings

  1. adjectivenot comparable

    Not mixed with anything else; clean, simple, or free from contamination.

    Grammar: Usually no comparative before a noun: pure water, not purer water, unless making a special comparison.

    Patterns

    • pure water
    • pure gold
    • pure and simple

    The lab uses pure water for the test.

    This necklace is made of pure gold.

  2. adjectivebefore a nounfigurative

    Complete or absolute, with nothing else involved; used before abstract nouns for emphasis.

    Grammar: Comes before the noun in this use: pure luck, not the luck was pure in the same sense.

    Patterns

    • pure luck
    • pure coincidence
    • pure nonsense

    It was pure luck that we caught the train.

    His excuse was pure nonsense.

  3. adjectivecomparableliterary

    Morally clean or innocent, without evil thoughts or wrong actions.

    Grammar: Can compare in literary use: a purer motive; often before nouns like heart or love.

    Patterns

    • pure heart
    • pure love
    • pure motives

    The story praises a pure heart more than wealth.

    She had pure motives for volunteering.

Word forms

comparativepurer
superlativepurest

Common combinations

pure water
Drink pure water when hiking in heat.
pure gold
The coin is marked as pure gold.
pure chance
Their meeting was pure chance.
pure enjoyment
The picnic was pure enjoyment for the children.
pure in heart
The poem describes someone gentle and pure in heart.

Synonyms and how they differ

unmixed
Unmixed stresses that nothing else is blended in, often for materials.
sheer
Sheer emphasizes amount or degree with abstract nouns: sheer luck is close to pure luck.
innocent
Innocent fits moral purity, especially lack of guilt or experience, not chemical purity.
uncontaminated
Uncontaminated is stronger and scientific, meaning not polluted or infected.

Opposites

impuremixedcontaminated

Word family

purely adverb
only, simply, or completely
purity noun
the state of being pure
purify verb
to make pure or clean
purist noun
a person who insists on strict correctness or tradition

Commonly confused: pure or poor? pure or pour?

pure vs poor

Poor means lacking money or quality; pure means unmixed, and the spellings differ by one letter.

pure vs pour

Pour means make liquid flow; pure sounds similar in fast speech but means unmixed.

Practice

Which phrase means only chance was involved?

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