Definition of purify Purify

/pjʊˈɹʌfajˌ/ - [pyurufay] - pu•ri•fy

We found 14 definitions of purify from 6 different sources.

What does purify mean?

Verb purifies, purifying, purified
purify - remove impurities from, increase the concentration of, and separate through the process of distillation; "purify the water"
		sublimate, make pure, distill
		ameliorate, improve, meliorate, amend, better make amendments to; "amend the document"
		chemical science, chemistry the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions
		rectify, refine convert into direct current; "rectify alternating current"
		purge excrete or evacuate (someone's bowels or body); "The doctor decided that the patient must be purged"
purify - make pure or free from sin or guilt; "he left the monastery purified"
		purge, sanctify
		modify, alter, change make less severe or harsh or extreme; "please modify this letter to make it more polite"; "he modified his views on same-gender marriage"
		spiritualise, spiritualize purify from the corrupting influences of the world; "During his stay at the ashram he was spiritualized"
		lustrate purify by means of a ritual; also used in post-Communist countries to refer to the political cleansing of former officials
purify - become clean or pure or free of guilt and sin; "The hippies came to the ashram in order to purify"
		change undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night"

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purify (v. t.)
To make pure or clear from material defilement, admixture, or imperfection; to free from extraneous or noxious matter; as, to purify liquors or metals; to purify the blood; to purify the air.
purify (v. t.)
Hence, in figurative uses: (a) To free from guilt or moral defilement; as, to purify the heart.
purify (v. t.)
To free from ceremonial or legal defilement.
purify (v. t.)
To free from improprieties or barbarisms; as, to purify a language.
purify (v. i.)
To grow or become pure or clear.

purify
pū′ri-fī, v.t. to make pure: to cleanse from foreign or hurtful matter: to free from guilt or uncleanness: to free from improprieties or barbarisms, as language.—v.i. to become pure:—pa.t. and pa.p. pū′rifīed.—n. Purificā′tion, act of purifying: (B.) the act of cleansing ceremonially by removing defilement: a cleansing of the soul from moral guilt or defilement: a crushing of desire after anything evil: the pouring of wine into the chalice to rinse it after communion, the wine being then drunk by the priest.—adj. Pū′rificātive.—n. Pū′rificātor.—adj. Pū′rificātory, tending to purify or cleanse.—n. Pū′rifier.—Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a feast observed in the R.C. Church on February 2d, in commemoration of the purification of the Virgin Mary, according to the Jewish ceremonial (Lev. xii. 2) forty days after the birth of Christ. [Fr. purifier—L. purificāre—purus, pure, facĕre, to make.]