pristine
adjective
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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
Mitch Moxley, Rolling Stone, 27 Sep. 2025
With low-light pollution and high altitudes, the observatory offers visitors the chance to view pristine night skies, sometimes including the Northern Lights, from its roll-off roof.
—Kathleen Wong, USA Today, 26 Sep. 2025
No writing room can be pristine, but the detritus must not outweigh the buzzing, trembling atmosphere of solemn, serious work.
—Katie Da Cunha Lewin
september 26, Literary Hub, 26 Sep. 2025
While experts, including those at MLB, urge buyers to use different, secure passwords for each of their accounts across different sites, surveys continue to find that a majority of Americans don’t practice pristine password hygiene.
—Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 24 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pristine
Cite this Entry
“Pristine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pristine. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
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pristine
adjective
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