Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To rid of impurities.
- transitive verb To rid of foreign or objectionable elements.
- transitive verb To free from moral or spiritual defilement.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make pure or clear; free from contamination or extraneous admixture: as, to
purify liquors or metals; to purify the blood; to purify the air. - To make ceremonially clean; cleanse or free from whatever pollutes or renders ceremonially unclean and unfit for sacred service.
- To free from guilt, or the defilement of sin; free from whatever is sinful, vile, or base.
- To elevate and free from barbarisms or inelegances: as, to
purify a language. - To grow or become pure or clear.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To grow or become pure or clear.
- transitive verb To make pure or clear from material defilement, admixture, or imperfection; to free from extraneous or noxious matter
- transitive verb Hence, in figurative uses: (a) To free from guilt or moral defilement.
- transitive verb To free from ceremonial or legal defilement.
- transitive verb To free from improprieties or barbarisms.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
cleanse (something), orrid (it) ofimpurities - verb To
free (someone) fromguilt orsin
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make pure or free from sin or guilt
- verb become clean or pure or free of guilt and sin
- verb remove impurities from, increase the concentration of, and separate through the process of distillation
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Tekroury, from the verb تكرر: meaning to renew, improve and purify, that is to say, their faith and learning by the pilgrimage.
Travels in Nubia 2004
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According to legend, the act of riding the horses through the bonfires is meant to "purify" them, much like a traditional baptism.
Saint Anthony's Day (PHOTOS): Baptism By Fire For Horses At Spanish Festival Curtis M. Wong 2011
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But if you're willing to sacrifice those things to "purify" the Democratic party then you're obviously more concerned with chest-thumping than actual results.
Centrist Dems Start Rebelling on Obama's Spending Plans 2010
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But if you're willing to sacrifice those things to "purify" the Democratic party then you're obviously more concerned with chest-thumping than actual results.
Centrist Dems Start Rebelling on Obama's Spending Plans 2010
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The commander said other motives include a desire by extremist groups to "purify" Iraq of people they perceive as infidels, or their association of Christians with U.S. forces.
Iraqi Christians Make Plans for a Silent Night Sam Dagher 2010
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But if you're willing to sacrifice those things to "purify" the Democratic party then you're obviously more concerned with chest-thumping than actual results.
Centrist Dems Start Rebelling on Obama's Spending Plans 2010
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The intolerance and belligerence of these groups find their ideological partner in the violent, Hindu nationalist groups who feel compelled to "purify" India by removing its "unclean" minorities.
Wajahat Ali: Indian Muslims: Defining their Loyalty After Mumbai Attacks 2009
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Should MoveOn start trying to "purify" the Dem Party, I would be my life's savings that the Dems will suffer the same fate as the current GOP.
Senator Says Troops Want Congress To Cut Off War Funding 2009
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Following a call from President Hu Jintao in January to "purify" the Internet, the ruling Communist Party will introduce new regulations targeting blogs and webcasts, one of the nation's chief censors was cited as saying.
New State of Matter? And other scientific press releases 2007
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The Iranian crisis and China's efforts to "purify" the Internet have lent urgency to the cause.
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