purge
verb/pɜːdʒ/
/pɜːrdʒ/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they purge | /pɜːdʒ/ /pɜːrdʒ/ |
| he / she / it purges | /ˈpɜːdʒɪz/ /ˈpɜːrdʒɪz/ |
| past simple purged | /pɜːdʒd/ /pɜːrdʒd/ |
| past participle purged | /pɜːdʒd/ /pɜːrdʒd/ |
| -ing form purging | /ˈpɜːdʒɪŋ/ /ˈpɜːrdʒɪŋ/ |
- to remove people from an organization, often violently, because their opinions or activities are unacceptable to the people in power
- purge something (of somebody) His first act as leader was to purge the party of extremists.
- purge somebody (from something) He purged extremists from the party.
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- (formal) to make yourself/somebody/something pure, healthy or clean by getting rid of bad thoughts or feelings
- purge yourself/somebody/something (of something) We need to purge our sport of racism.
- purge something (from something) Nothing could purge the guilt from her mind.
Word OriginMiddle English (in the legal sense ‘clear oneself of a charge’): from Old French purgier, from Latin purgare ‘purify’, from purus ‘pure’.
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purge