purify

[ pyoor-uh-fahy ]

verb (used with object)

, pu·ri·fied, pu·ri·fy·ing.

1. to make pure; free from anything that debases, pollutes, adulterates, or contaminates:

   to purify metals.

2. to free from foreign, extraneous, or objectionable elements:

   to purify a language.

3. to free from guilt or evil.
4. to clear or purge (usually followed by of or from ).
5. to make clean for ceremonial or ritual use.

verb (used without object)

, pu·ri·fied, pu·ri·fy·ing.

1. to become pure.

purify

/ ˈpjʊərɪˌfaɪ; ˈpjʊərɪfɪˌkeɪtərɪ /

verb

1. to free (something) of extraneous, contaminating, or debasing matter
2. tr to free (a person, etc) from sin or guilt
3. tr to make clean, as in a ritual, esp the churching of women after childbirth

Derived Forms

• purificatory, adjective
• ˌpurifiˈcation, noun

Other Words From

• pu·ri·fi·ca·tion [py, oo, r-, uh, -fi-, key, -sh, uh, n], noun
• pu·rif·i·ca·to·ry [py, oo, -, rif, -i-k, uh, -tawr-ee], adjective
• pu·ri·fi·er noun
• non·pu·ri·fy·ing adjective
• re·pu·ri·fy verb repurified repurifying
• self-pu·ri·fy·ing adjective
• un·pu·ri·fied adjective
• un·pu·ri·fy·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of purify¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English purifien, from Middle French purifier, from Latin pūrificāre; pure, -ify

Word History and Origins

Origin of purify¹

C14: from Old French purifier, from Late Latin pūrificāre to cleanse, from pūrus pure + facere to make

Example Sentences

When completed, the facilities will purify treated wastewater and produce 20 million gallons of drinking water per day, enough to supply about 250,000 people.

From Los Angeles Times

Trump reportedly admires Adolf Hitler, is obsessed with eugenics and breeding human beings like they are horses, and is threatening to purify the blood of the nation by purging it of “the enemy within” i.e. “racial undesirables” and the so-called Left.

From Salon

In all, Trump wants to “purify” the “blood” of the nation by purging it of all “undesirables” – as defined by his corrupt personal standards and fascist political vision.

From Salon

This message cannot be properly understood outside of Trump’s Hitlerian threat and promise to “purify” the nation’s “blood” of human “vermin.”

From Salon

Untreated water was to blame, and an unlikely hero emerged: Wilhelm Berkefeld, the inventor of a ceramic device that helped purify the city’s drinking water and reduce the epidemic’s death toll.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• rarefy