IMPU'RENESS IMPU'RITY, noun [Latin impuritas, supra.] 1. Want of purity; foulness; feculence; the admixture of a foreign substance in any thing; as the impurity of water, of air, of spirits, or of any species of earth or metal. 2. Any foul matter. 3. Unchastity; lewdness. The foul impurities that reigned among the monkish clergy. 4. Want of sanctity or holiness; defilement by guilt. 5. Want of ceremonial purity; legal pollution or uncleanness. By the Mosaic law, a person contracted impurity by touching a dead body or a leper. 6. Foul language; obscenity. Profaneness, impurity, or scandal, is not wit.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI