pristine
adjective
Did you know?
When pristine was anglicized in the 16th century, people borrowed the meanings of "early" and "original" from the Latin word pristinus and applied those meanings to what is desirable as well as to what is not. But it has long been a tendency of civilized people to admire a simpler and unsullied past. The supposition is that when things were in their oldest or original state, they were better. Thus, pristine was extended to describe the notion of an unspoiled, uncorrupted, or unpolluted state. And what is unspoiled or uncontaminated may connote the freshness and cleanness of something that has just been made, which explains how pristine has also come to mean "fresh and clean."
Examples of pristine in a Sentence
Wayne Chang, CNN Money, 3 June 2026
Protest groups fear the sections of that pristine coastline could be snapped up by powerful investors.
—ABC News, 3 June 2026
Harsh rule, pristine beaches Albania has 280 miles of coast that remained largely underdeveloped during decades of harsh communist rule.
—Zana Cimili, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2026
Exciting discoveries await with the opening of various mysterious pristine boxes.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for pristine
Cite this Entry
“Pristine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pristine. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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pristine
adjective
