impure

Etymology

From Middle French impur, from Latin impurus

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ʊə(r)

Adjective

impure (comparative more impure, superlative most impure)

1. Not pure
   1. Containing undesired intermixtures

      The impure gemstone was not good enough to be made into a necklace, so it was thrown out.

   2. Unhallowed; defiled by something unholy, either physically by an objectionable substance, or morally by guilt or sin
   3. Unchaste; obscene (not according to or not abiding by some system of sexual morality)

      He was thinking impure thoughts involving a girl from school.

      • 2012, Frederick Ramsay, The Eighth Veil: A Jerusalem Mystery

        “No one would marry her if she was impure, don't you see?” “Impure? Surely if a woman is forcibly deprived of her virginity, she can't be thought of as impure.”

Verb

impure (third-person singular simple present impures, present participle impuring, simple past and past participle impured)

1. (transitive, obsolete) to defile; to pollute

References

• impure in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• impure in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• rumpie, umpire

Adjective

impure

1. feminine singular of impur

Adjective

impure f pl

1. feminine plural of impuro

Adjective

impūre

1. vocative masculine singular of impūrus

Adverb

impūrē (comparative impūrius, superlative impūrissimē)

1. basely, shamefully, infamously
2. impurely

References

• impure in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• impure in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• impure in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette