PRISTINE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pristine mean? 

• PRISTINE (adjective)
  The adjective PRISTINE has 2 senses:

1. completely free from dirt or contamination

2. immaculately clean and unused

  Familiarity information: PRISTINE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRISTINE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Completely free from dirt or contamination

Context example:

pristine mountain snow

Similar:

pure (free of extraneous elements of any kind)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Immaculately clean and unused

Context example:

handed her his pristine white handkerchief

Similar:

clean (free from dirt or impurities; or having clean habits)

 Context examples 

They are generally old, pristine and diverse in their composition.

(Saturn Spacecraft Samples Interstellar Dust, NASA)

"We wanted to collect pristine water and microbial samples," Girguis said.

(Microbes in underground aquifers beneath deep-sea Mid-Atlantic Ridge 'chow down' on carbon, National Science Foundation)

However, some asteroids are less pristine than others.

(Vitamin B3 might have been made in space, delivered to Earth by meteorites, NASA)

This permitted the retrieval of pristine water and sediment samples that had been isolated from direct contact with the atmosphere for many thousands of years.

(800 meters beneath Antarctic ice sheet, subglacial lake holds viable microbial ecosystems, NSF)

"It's a pristine environment, the Tibetan people are kind, and in paleontological terms," he says, "it's relatively unexplored."

("Out of Tibet" hypothesis: Cradle of evolution for cold-adapted mammals is in Tibet, NSF)

"The Congo is now facing conversion of pristine lands for agriculture. We want to know what that could mean for the carbon cycle."

(Tropical soil disturbance could be hidden source of carbon dioxide, National Science Foundation)

But its production has been linked to large-scale destruction of pristine forests and the decimation of orangutan populations.

(Greener palm oil possible without sacrificing profit, SciDev.Net)

Autonomous recorders set up at 34 locations in the Adelbert Mountains of Papua New Guinea covered sites ranging from pristine forests to small cacao farms.

(Scientists record the sound of intact forest, SciDev.Net)

Gotanda found that finches on islands with predators were wary, and flew away from an approaching researcher - imitating an approaching predator - at a much greater distance than the finches on pristine islands without predators.

(A decade after the predators have gone, Galapagos Island finches are still being spooked, University of Cambridge)

Cassini finished its tour of the Saturn system with its Grand Finale, capped by Friday's intentional plunge into the planet to ensure Saturn's moons – particularly Enceladus, with its subsurface ocean and signs of hydrothermal activity – remain pristine for future exploration.

(Cassini Spacecraft Ends Its Historic Exploration of Saturn, NASA)