1
as in polluted
containing foreign or lower-grade substances
be careful, because impure motor oil can damage your car's engine
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in vulgar
depicting or referring to sexual matters in a way that is unacceptable in polite society
Victorian notions of what qualified as impure art now strike us as laughable
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of impure
France has Europe’s largest population of Muslims, over 6 million, for whom pigs are considered impure.
—
Reuters, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2025
Curtain calls In 1900, more than 6,000 people in England were poisoned by beer that had been brewed using impure sulfuric acid containing arsenic.
—Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Sep. 2025
This method combines impure raw silicon with pure aluminum, lowering the melting temperature compared to conventional polysilicon production.
—Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 12 Aug. 2025
The trash is heated to break it into crude, impure syngas, which is then zapped with plasma torches to further refine it.
—IEEE Spectrum, 22 Nov. 2011
See All Example Sentences for impure
Reuters, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2025
Curtain calls In 1900, more than 6,000 people in England were poisoned by beer that had been brewed using impure sulfuric acid containing arsenic.
—Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Sep. 2025
This method combines impure raw silicon with pure aluminum, lowering the melting temperature compared to conventional polysilicon production.
—Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 12 Aug. 2025
The trash is heated to break it into crude, impure syngas, which is then zapped with plasma torches to further refine it.
—IEEE Spectrum, 22 Nov. 2011
See All Example Sentences for impure
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impure
Adjective
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Though McCoy’s plot is often murkier than the polluted lake around which its events unfold, her voice, highly attuned to sensory experience, shines through.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
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If canaries in coal mines were harbingers of safe conditions, surely piping plovers at Waukegan Beach mean the city is overcoming its polluted past.—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
4 May 2026
Adjective
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But demeaning our brand through association with vulgar demagogues is a losing strategy.—
Alma Hernandez,
New York Daily News,
1 May 2026
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The word was considered so vulgar that it was left out of early dictionaries and was rarely printed, though Adams says people were certainly using it.—
Harmeet Kaur,
CNN Money,
8 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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People can get sick after breathing in contaminated particles that get stirred into the air, especially while cleaning or spending time in places where rodents have been active, like sheds, garages, barns, cabins and storage areas.—
Tiffani Jackson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
7 May 2026
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Both options are naturally gluten-free, but oats are more likely to be cross-contaminated with gluten.—
Mira Miller,
Verywell Health,
4 May 2026
Adjective
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Faced with that reality, our inability to relate to one another becomes almost obscene.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
6 May 2026
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For instance, the ruling recognized that the government’s need to protect national security might require it to prevent publication of the number and location of troops and that the primary requirements of decency might require censorship of obscene publications.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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But dwarf galaxies are smaller and colder, with more dilute and slower-moving matter.—
Paul M. Sutter,
Scientific American,
6 May 2026
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Second, a dilute hydrochloric acid is used to dissolve the remaining lithium and the transition metals—nickel, cobalt, and manganese.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
12 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The illicit chatbots allegedly produced pornographic images.—
Cerys Davies,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Apr. 2026
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Pamela Martin, 44, and her boyfriend Christopher O’Kane, 41, both pleaded guilty in March to three counts of making an indecent image of a child, two counts of distributing an indecent image of a child, possession of an extreme pornographic image and publishing an obscene article.—
Christine Pelisek,
PEOPLE,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Net income is $807 million, or 43 cents per diluted share.—
Glenn Taylor,
Footwear News,
24 Apr. 2026
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The device pulls in a lot of air to capture the very diluted CO2.—
Molly McCrea,
CBS News,
24 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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After Queta picked up his fourth foul minutes into the second half of Game 5 and was lifted for Vucevic, Embiid proceeded to score 10 points in the next four minutes, powering a 15-3 Sixers run that flipped the game.—
Zack Cox,
Boston Herald,
30 Apr. 2026
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On a 1-1 count, Cubs infielder Matt Shaw hit a weak dribbler down the third base line that teetered on the edge of fair or foul.—
Ian Miller OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
29 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Impure.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impure. Accessed 9 May. 2026.
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