Hypertext Webster Gateway: "impurity"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Impurity \Im*pu"ri*ty\, n.; pl. Impurities . [L. impuritas: cf.
F. impuret['e].]
1. The condition or quality of being impure in any sense;
defilement; foulness; adulteration.
Profaneness, impurity, or scandal, is not wit.
--Buckminster.
2. That which is, or which renders anything, impure; foul
matter, action, language, etc.; a foreign ingredient.
Foul impurities reigned among the monkish clergy.
--Atterbury.
3. (Script.) Want of ceremonial purity; defilement.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
impurity
n 1: worthless material that should be removed; "there were
impurities in the water" [syn: {dross}]
2: the condition of being impure [syn: {impureness}] [ant: {purity}]
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