impurity

impure +‎ -ity. From Middle French impurité.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpjɝɪti/, /ɪmˈpjuɹɪti/

This citrine stone is a quartz stone that has turned golden yellow due to iron impurities.

impurity (countable and uncountable, plural impurities)

1. The condition of being impure; because of contamination, pollution, adulteration or insufficient purification.

   Even animals in the Jewish system cause impurity only when they are dead.

2. A component or additive that renders something else impure.
   • 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):

     An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.

   The impurities in the iron ore made extraction of the iron very difficult.

3. A state of immorality or sin; especially the weakness of the flesh: inchastity.

   With his cheating, lying and stealing, he epitomised the impurity of humanity.

• impureness

• purity