purge

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /pɝdʒ/ UK /pɜːdʒ/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to rid of unwanted elements; a sudden removal of people or things

The new regime began a brutal purge of its rivals.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to rid of unwanted... cleanse clear expel remove eliminate oust eradicate

Opposites

retain keep contaminate pollute

Word family

Derived forms purgerpurgation purgativepurging

Related forms purgatoryexpurgatepure purify

Etymology

From Old French purgier, from Latin purgare ('to cleanse, purify'), from purus ('pure') + agere ('to do, drive').

purgare Latin purus Latin agere Latin

View etymology graph ->

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# purge

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /pɝdʒ/
**IPA (UK):** /pɜːdʒ/

## Meanings
1. to rid of unwanted elements; a sudden removal of people or things

## Examples
- The new regime began a brutal purge of its rivals.

## Synonyms
- cleanse
- clear
- expel
- remove
- eliminate
- oust
- eradicate

## Antonyms
- retain
- keep
- contaminate
- pollute

## Derived Forms
- purger
- purgation
- purgative
- purging

## Related Forms
- purgatory
- expurgate
- pure
- purify

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: purgare
- Root: purus
- Root: agere

## Etymology
From Old French purgier, from Latin purgare ('to cleanse, purify'), from purus ('pure') + agere ('to do, drive').

## AI Etymology
Purge is from Old French purgier, from Latin purgare ('to cleanse, purify'), from purus ('pure') + agere ('to do, drive'). Important recorded forms include purgare (Latin), purus (Latin), and agere (Latin). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers to rid of unwanted elements; a sudden removal of people or things. The wider family includes derived forms such as purger, purgation, purgative, and purging and related words such as purgatory, expurgate, pure, and purify.

## Topics
- People & Society

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purge

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