be careful, because impure motor oil can damage your car's engine
Victorian notions of what qualified as impure art now strike us as laughable.
Recent Examples on the WebThe more obvious one, given those titular peepers, is that Mizu had a white father, rendering her an impure monster to her countrymen.—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 9 Nov. 2023 Instead of making the cleansing of impure spirits the exclusive domain of a shadowy arm of the Church that answers to the Vatican, the movie throws in Pentecostal holy rollers, spiritual healing methods and folk medicine rooted in African culture and — God save us — the power of group solidarity.—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019 Some of the common problems can include: Customs issues due to poor packaging and labeling
Receiving a contaminated or impure product
Mistakes with dosing due to defective capsules or unclear instructions
Mix-ups with the form of phenibut provided
No product arriving at all!—The Salt Lake Tribune, 16 Aug. 2023 Hoffmann improved on earlier work of French chemist Charles Frederic Gerhardt, who derived acetylsalicylic acid from plants, but only in an impure, unstable form.—Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Aug. 2023 However, this growing demand has led to an influx of impure products on the market.—Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 1 Aug. 2023 At the local pub in Innisfree, Squire Danaher (played by Victor McLaglen) confronts Wayne (the American, Sean Thornton, returned to his place of birth) and infers the Duke has impure thoughts about Danaher’s sister, Mary Kate, played by Maureen O’Hara.—Jack Fowler, National Review, 18 June 2023 Elsa Laurenzi, who has written about Rome’s Jewish catacombs, notes that Jews did not come to catacombs to pray, considering burial grounds impure.—David Laskin Martin Pauer, New York Times, 1 May 2023 This does not mean that your partner enabling your dreams through their money makes your relationship impure.—Mark Travers, Forbes, 7 May 2023 See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'impure.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French, from Latin impurus, from in- + purus pure
Share