purity
/ˈpjʊərɪti
/noun [mass noun]
1Freedom from adulteration or contamination: the purity of our drinking water...
- Herbs have been used in Europe for a long time, but their products are tested for purity and content.
- Now organic living is about purity, wellbeing and more than a little luxury.
- It had that quality which all pharmaceutical products aspire to - purity.
Synonyms
cleanness, clearness, clarity, freshness, freedom from adulteration/contamination, lack of pollution, untaintedness;
wholesomeness, naturalness, healthiness, healthfulness, salubrity;
sterility, salubriousness
2Freedom from immorality, especially of a sexual nature: white is meant to represent purity and innocence...
- The colour white symbolizes a lot of things, and one is that it represents purity and innocence.
- By Victorian double standards, virtue in a man implied courage, but in a woman sexual purity.
- Notions of sexual purity tend to mean adding to life through subtraction from life.
Synonyms
virtue, virtuousness, lack of corruption, morality, goodness, righteousness, rectitude, saintliness, piety, honour, honesty, integrity, uprightness, decency, worthiness, nobility of soul/spirit, ethicality;
blamelessness, guiltlessness, innocence, chastity, sinlessness, stainlessness, spotlessness, irreproachableness, immaculateness, impeccability
Origin
Middle English: from Old French purete, later assimilated to late Latin puritas, from Latin purus 'pure'.