impurity
/ɪmˈpjʊərɪti
/noun (plural impurities) [mass noun]
1The state or quality of being impure: a struggle to rid the soul of sin and impurity...
- They also maintained that illness, poverty, business failure, or any other misfortune is simply due to sin and spiritual impurity.
- In vv 24 and 26a Paul asserts a surfeit of desire and passion by the people he is denouncing, which he characterizes as impurity and dishonor.
- In Galatians 5: 19-21 the list is headed by sexual immorality, impurity, licentiousness, and idolatry.
Synonyms
adulteration, debasement, degradation
contamination, pollution;
dirtiness, filthiness, uncleanliness, foulness, unwholesomeness
rare feculence
immorality, corruption, sin, sinfulness, vice, wickedness, dishonour;
depravity, degeneracy, debauchery, dissolution;
unchastity, lustfulness, lechery, lecherousness, lewdness, lasciviousness, prurience, obscenity, dirtiness, indecency, wantonness, ribaldry, smut, smuttiness, impropriety, crudity, crudeness, vulgarity, coarseness, grossness
rare concupiscence
1.1 [count noun] A constituent which impairs the purity of something: aluminium and lead are impurities frequently found in tap water...
- Naturally occurring impurities in the constituent ingredients gave glass an olive green hue which varied from pale to almost black and was beneficial to the bottled wine as it excluded light.
- The impurities dissolve in lead and evaporate leaving behind silver and gold.
- But when the oil is left in the engine for extended periods, lead and other impurities may fall out of suspension - right on to your engine parts.
Synonyms
contaminant, adulterant, pollutant, foreign body;
dross, dirt, filth, grime, scum;
(impurities) bits, foreign matter
1.2 [count noun] Electronics A trace element deliberately added to a semiconductor; a dopant.Often the conducting properties of a semiconductor can be varied by adding an impurity known as a dopant so that a semiconductor can be made to act like either an insulator or a conductor....
- At the usual bulk CMOS, this voltage is controlled by introduction of the impurities into a silicon substrate.
- Recent research has discovered that a semiconductor can be made magnetic by doping it with an impurity such as Mn.
Origin
Late Middle English: from French impurite or Latin impuritas, from impurus (see impure).