impure
not pure; mixed with extraneous matter, especially of an inferior or contaminating nature: impure water and air.
modified by admixture, as color.
mixed or combined with something else: an impure style of architecture.
regarded by a religion as unclean, as animals or things.
not morally pure or proper; unchaste or obscene: impure thoughts.
marked by foreign and unsuitable or objectionable elements or characteristics, as a style of art or of literary expression.
Origin of impure
1Other words for impure
Other words from impure
- im·pure·ly, adverb
- im·pure·ness, noun
Words Nearby impure
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use impure in a sentence
When Devi asks another Dalit family why their home is so far outside the main village, they say it’s because other communities consider them impure.
The Oscar-Shortlisted Documentary Writing With Fire Shines a Light on the Only All-Women News Outlet in India | Sanya Mansoor | January 27, 2022 | TimeThey wanted to expel the demons which they believed caused impure thoughts.
You feel guilty if you eat foods you believe to be “impure.”
Orthorexia: When Healthy Eating Becomes an Obsession | DailyBurn | October 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMuch of this has been pure, or more accurately, impure, political theater.
Eric Holder’s Legacy: Bold on Equality, Less So on Civil Liberties | Geoffrey R. Stone | September 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut really, how impure is the desire to garner professional respect and reap enough cash to pay rent and keep making work?
The “bootleg chemistry” results in a drug that is notoriously impure and often contains a lethal mix of toxins.
If it had not been for the high, dome-shaped roof, the air would have grown heavy and impure.
Alila, Our Little Philippine Cousin | Mary Hazelton WadeNo, he will doubtless go to some friend who he thinks will tell him, and thus get his young mind tainted with impure thoughts.
The value of a praying mother | Isabel C. ByrumAstonishment and curiosity calmed for a moment the impure ardor of the Crusaders.
The Pilgrim's Shell or Fergan the Quarryman | Eugne SueIt gave a bluish-black color with impure ferrous sulphate and a dark color with ferric chloride.
Some Constituents of the Poison Ivy Plant: (Rhus Toxicodendron) | William Anderson SymeAll appeared to be impure gallic acid which had become brown by absorption of oxygen.
Some Constituents of the Poison Ivy Plant: (Rhus Toxicodendron) | William Anderson Syme
British Dictionary definitions for impure
/ (ɪmˈpjʊə) /
not pure; combined with something else; tainted or sullied
(in certain religions)
(of persons) ritually unclean and as such debarred from certain religious ceremonies
(of foodstuffs, vessels, etc) debarred from certain religious uses
(of a colour) mixed with another colour or with black or white
of more than one origin or style, as of architecture or other design
Derived forms of impure
- impurely, adverb
- impureness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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