purge
verb
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Definition of purge
(Entry 1 of 2)
1a : to clear of guilt
b : to free from moral or ceremonial defilement
2a : to cause evacuation from purge the bowels
b(1) : to make free of something unwanted purge a manhole of gas purge yourself of fear
(2) : to free (something, such as a boiler) of sediment or relieve (something, such as a steam pipe) of trapped air by bleeding
c(1) : to rid (a nation, a political party, etc.) by a purge
(2) : to get rid of the leaders had been purged
purge
nounDefinition of purge (Entry 2 of 2)
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Examples of purge in a Sentence
Verb
High-ranking officials were purged from the company following the merger. a day on which the faithful are expected to purge themselves of their sins through prayer and fastingRecent Examples on the Web: Verb
Not only is Georgia a state that has been watched by advocacy groups for several years, with 1.5 million people having been purged from voter rolls between 2012 and 2016. — Bridget Read, Vogue, "Stacey Abrams’s Campaign Says Recount or Runoff Is Possible—If All Georgia Votes Are Actually Counted—While Andrew Gillum’s Race Enters Recount Range in Florida," 8 Nov. 2018 The president is concerned that his follower count is going down as Twitter purges itself of bots. — Casey Newton, The Verge, "How platforms are driving users to misinformation about mail bombs," 27 Oct. 2018 The entire job—from design consultation to manufacturing specs and installation—takes one to four weeks, enough time to purge the old and get ready for the new. — Nicky Cirone, ELLE Decor, "Closet Case," 5 July 2012 Twitter is making good on its pledge to purge frozen accounts from its users' follower counts. — Natalie Jarvey, The Hollywood Reporter, "Donald Trump, Katy Perry Hit By Twitter Follower Purge," 12 July 2018 Trump hasn’t been pressuring Twitter to purge its user base — at least not the actually problematic bot accounts. — Emily Stewart, Vox, "Trump wants Twitter to delete the New York Times’ and the Washington Post’s accounts.," 7 July 2018 Leave the eggplant alone to purge the excess water. — Evan Kleiman, latimes.com, "Cucina Italiana: The joy of eggplant. Try making a timbale," 5 July 2018 In fact, upper-class purgers pay top dollar to be able to purge in a safe, controlled hunting ground. — refinery29.com, "Why People Either Really Love Or Hate The Purge Movies," 3 July 2018 Another option is to execute the 'qlmanage -r cache' command, which appears to purge the cache without requiring a reboot. — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, "Reminder: macOS still leaks secrets stored on encrypted drives," 18 June 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
The purges and show trials were depicted as efforts to rid the country of German agents. — Winston Groom, WSJ, "Unsavory Allies, From Stalin to the Saudis," 4 Dec. 2018 In several states, inaccurate purges have done exactly that. — Ranjani Chakraborty, Vox, "Why American voter registrations are disappearing," 5 Nov. 2018 Facebook's purge affected hundreds of political accounts, many of which amassed millions of followers through publishing partisan and sometimes overtly false content. — Sam Blum, Popular Mechanics, "Facebook's Fake News Problem Isn't Russian Anymore—It's Homegrown," 12 Oct. 2018 Even after successive purges, the administration remains leaky and factious. — Chris Stirewalt, Fox News, "Trump attacks Kavanaugh accuser," 25 Sep. 2018 Twitter has gone to great lengths to appease the right, and any purge, however justified, would result in waves of negative coverage from Fox News and the Drudge Report. — Alex Shephard, The New Republic, "Is Twitter Good Now?," 13 July 2018 Constant purges of the army’s upper ranks seem designed to forestall hostile factions. — The Economist, "North Korea’s despot has one goal: survival," 26 Apr. 2018 In another possible setback for the ruling party, Europe’s top court Friday ordered the Polish government to suspend a law that lowered the mandatory retirement age for justices and opened the way for a purge of the Supreme Court. — Vanessa Gera, The Seattle Times, "Poland’s ruling populists see power, appeal checked," 22 Oct. 2018 The super-fly duo talked to GQ about their fifth album, Head Over Heels, funk’s role as a purge in 2018, and... shaving their legs. — James Grebey, GQ, "Chromeo Are Here Because You Need Funk in Your Life," 12 June 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'purge.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for purge
purge
verb
English Language Learners Definition of purge
(Entry 1 of 2)
: to remove people from an area, country, organization, etc., often in a violent and sudden way
: to cause something to leave the body
purge
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of purge (Entry 2 of 2)
: the often violent and sudden removal of people from an area, country, organization, etc.
See the full definition for purge in the English Language Learners Dictionary
purge
verb
\
Kids Definition of purge
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : to get rid of Ineffective workers were purged from the company.
2 : to rid of unwanted things or people The heir alone would be able to … purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic.— J. K. Rowling, Chamber of Secrets
purge
nounKids Definition of purge (Entry 2 of 2)
1 : an act or instance of ridding of what is unwanted
2 : the removal of members thought to be treacherous or disloyal a purge of party leaders
purge
verb
\
Medical Definition of purge
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : to cause evacuation from (as the bowels) or of or from the bowels of drugs that purge the bowels purged the patient with a cathartic
2 : to free (itself) of suspended matter usually by sedimentation —used of a liquid
purge
nounMedical Definition of purge (Entry 2 of 2)
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purge
transitive verb
\
Legal Definition of purge
1 : to clear (as oneself or another) of guilt purged himself of contempt
2 : to become no longer guilty of purge the contempt
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