IMPURITY

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does impurity mean? 

• IMPURITY (noun)
  The noun IMPURITY has 2 senses:

1. worthless or dangerous material that should be removed

2. the condition of being impure

  Familiarity information: IMPURITY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPURITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Worthless or dangerous material that should be removed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

dross; impurity

Context example:

there were impurities in the water

Hypernyms ("impurity" is a kind of...):

waste; waste material; waste matter; waste product (any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted)

Derivation:

impure (combined with extraneous elements)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The condition of being impure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

impureness; impurity

Hypernyms ("impurity" is a kind of...):

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "impurity"):

adulteration; debasement (being mixed with extraneous material; the product of adulterating)

admixture; alloy (the state of impairing the quality or reducing the value of something)

contamination; taint (the state of being contaminated)

dirtiness (the state of containing dirty impurities)

putridity (the state of being putrid)

pollution (undesirable state of the natural environment being contaminated with harmful substances as a consequence of human activities)

Antonym:

purity (being undiluted or unmixed with extraneous material)

 Context examples 

Issue associated with the undesired introduction of impurities either chemical or microbiological in nature, or of foreign matter into or onto the device at the user facility.

(Medical Device Contamination during Use, Food and Drug Administration)

The process of applying a solvent (e.g., water) or a solution (e.g., SSC/SDS) to a biomaterial or an array to remove impurities or unwanted compounds.

(Cell Wash, NCI Thesaurus)

The fluorescence may result from the compound analyzed or from fluorescent impurities in the sample.

(Cell chemistry illuminated by laser light, National Science Foundation)

A study that assesses the effects of impurities that may be found in a substance.

(Other Toxicity Studies: Impurities, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

To de Leon's team, these color centers, as the impurities are called, represent an opportunity to manipulate light and create a quantum repeater.

(Key Tech for Quantum Communications Offered by Implanting Diamonds with Flaws, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The silicon material needs to have a highly ordered wafer structure and is very sensitive to any impurities, such as dust, so has to be made in a cleanroom.

(‘Messy’ production of perovskite material increases solar cell efficiency, University of Cambridge)

Possibilities being studied include ideas that the reddish material is exposed ice with chemical impurities, or the result of outgassing from inside Tethys.

(Unusual Red Arcs Spotted on Icy Saturn Moon, NASA)

It is a white crystalline substance, C18H12, of strong blue fluorescence, but generally colored yellow by impurities.

(Chrysene, NCI Thesaurus)

These variants possess properties comparable to the desired product and are not considered impurities.

(Pharmaceutical Product-related Substance, NCI Thesaurus)

Any of the toxic or carcinogenic chlorinated hydrocarbons that occur as impurities in herbicides.

(Dioxin Compound, NCI Thesaurus)