Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Remaining in a pure state; uncorrupted by civilization.
- adj. Remaining free from dirt or decay; clean: pristine mountain snow.
- adj. Of, relating to, or typical of the earliest time or condition; primitive or original.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of or belonging to a primitive or early state or period; original; primitive: as, pristine innocence; the pristine manners of a people.
- Synonyms Primitive, etc. See primary.
Wiktionary
- adj. Unspoiled; still with its original purity; uncorrupted or unsullied
- adj. Primitive, pertaining to the earliest state of something
- adj. Relating to sawfishes of the family Pristidae.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Belonging to the earliest period or state; original; primitive; primeval.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. immaculately clean and unused
- adj. completely free from dirt or contamination
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek πρίστης (pristēs, "a saw, one that saws") (Wiktionary)
- Latin prīstinus; see per1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Label condition—Is the label pristine, stained, or “bin soiled”?”
“GOD BLESS YOU!" the priest clad in pristine white vestments shouted as he doused the boat and Vitter three times with water from a plastic oyster tub.”
Gulf oil spill makes blessing of boats a sad task in La. this year
“Enjoy, native cuts in pristine clear clean moutnain water, nothing better ....”
“My point is that decommissioning the orbiters and sending them to a museum in pristine condition seems wasteful.”
“I've seen scientists having their photos taken for publicity shots and I know the photographer often ends up making the setting quite artificial (PI in pristine lab coat holding up a sequencing gel or other film while artfully arranged reagent bottles sparkle in the background seemed to be a popular one), so it's hard to know how representative they are of what these women usually dressed when they were working.”
Depictions of 20th Century Women in Science: The Smithsonian Collection
“But if you have the spare cash and want your figures in pristine condition to display then new figures is the way to go.”
“I read hardcovers with the jacket on -- until I finally get irritated with trying to keep it in pristine condition and then take it off until I'm done!”
“I have no problem lending my books out because I crease pages, fold down pages, eat while eating, so they're not in pristine condition.”
“I always take the jacket off to keep it in pristine conditions!”
“While we are thoroughly enjoying our visit to this idyllic little town, our thoughts go back to the Atlanta airport where, while transferring between terminals, we were surprised by the number of young men and women in pristine, desert-camouflage uniforms who were walking purposefully through the concourses or riding trams towards the gates and to the aircraft that would eventually take them back to Afghanistan.”
The Huffington Post: Dorian de Wind: One Constancy of War: The Youth of Those Who Fight and Die
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pristine’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
vanish, number one, archangel, commodious, dominie, rubble, glisten, morose, spindle, ventilation, Blessed, christian and 503 more...
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501
Classic
mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly and 401 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
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501
Classic
bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august and 401 more...
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Words For Novel (Part 2)
fable, sprite, syphilitic, anvil, wonderstruck, vertigo, bridled, tufted, fettered, savvy, tweed fedora, tryst and 255 more...
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GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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select words
luminous, radiant, malicious, zeal, ojalá, voluptuary, rubbish, purlicue, consarnit, upstart, precis, robinsonade and 66 more...
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Words beginning with P
peripatetic, pearlescent, perfunctory, palliate, permafrost, prosthetic, pliant, pluvious, percussion, procrastinate, progeria, prognathism and 49 more...
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P
letters starting with p
predicament, presumptuous, predilection, plausible, preeminent, plaintive, paragon, partisan, pathological, paucity, pedantic, penchant and 28 more...
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Shakespeare.05
vaulting, dismal, gory, malice, summons, commend, forswear, dwindle, avarice, pristine, adage, predominance and 2 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1896 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pristine.
iangilman As seen in a Cracked's 9 Words That Don't Mean What You Think. Nov 26, 2007