Meaning & use
purity
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Meanings
noununcountable
The state of containing nothing else mixed in or added, such as dirt or other substances.
Grammar: Uncountable, often followed by of: the purity of the water.
Patterns
- the purity of something
- test the purity of something
The lab tested the purity of the water sample.
Gold of high purity is soft and easy to bend.
Many people choose bottled water because of its supposed purity.
noununcountableliterary
Freedom from anything bad or false, especially moral faults or wrong thoughts.
Grammar: Often found with abstract nouns like heart, motive or intention.
Patterns
- the purity of someone's motives
Everyone admired the purity of her motives.
The poem praises the purity of a child's heart.
He defended the purity of the language against slang.
noununcountable
A clear, simple quality of sound, color or shape.
Grammar: Often used in the arts: the purity of her voice.
Patterns
- the purity of something
The singer's voice had a remarkable purity.
The painter was known for the purity of his colors.
The purity of the design made it timeless.
Common combinations
- purity of the water
- Inspectors checked the purity of the water.
- moral purity
- The sermon spoke of moral purity.
- high purity
- The lab uses chemicals of high purity.
- racial purity
- The idea of racial purity has no scientific basis.
- purity of heart
- They valued her purity of heart.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cleanness
- Cleanness describes being free from dirt, while purity suggests nothing else mixed in at all.
- innocence
- Innocence suggests lack of guilt or experience, while purity is about being unmixed or morally clean.
- clarity
- Clarity refers to clearness that is easy to see or understand, whereas purity means being unmixed.
- chastity
- Chastity is a narrower, old-fashioned word for sexual purity.
Opposites
Word family
- pure adjective
- not mixed with anything else
- purely adverb
- only or completely
- purify verb
- to make something clean or pure
- purification noun
- the process of making something pure
- purist noun
- someone who insists on strict correctness
Commonly confused: purity or parity? purity or purify?
purity vs parity
Parity means equality, as in pay parity. It sounds a little like purity but is about being equal.
purity vs purify
Purify is the verb meaning to make pure. Purity is the noun for the state.
Practice
The lab certified the ___ of the sample, showing it contained no other substances.
Choose one answer.
Purity means freedom from anything mixed in. Parity means equality, which does not fit a lab test.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “purity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.