pure and simple

Slang Dictionary

pure and simple definition


  1. mod.
    basically; essentially. : Bart is a crook, pure and simple.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

pure and simple

No more and no less, plainly so, as in This so-called educational video is really a game, pure and simple. This expression is very nearly redundant, since pure and simple here mean "plain" and "unadorned." Oscar Wilde played on it in The Importance of Being Earnest (1895): "The truth is rarely pure and never simple." [Second half of 1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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