purge
purge Lexical Profile
purge Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An abrupt or systematic removal of unwanted people from an organization, political party, or state, or of unwanted items from a collection.
"The database administrator scheduled an annual purge of inactive user accounts to free up server storage."
A cathartic medicine or laxative that causes evacuation of the bowels, or the act of administering such a treatment.
"Historical medical texts show that eighteenth-century physicians frequently prescribed a strong herbal purge for common ailments."
• verb
To rid someone or something of an unwanted quality, condition, or feeling; to cleanse or purify.
"Writing in a journal helped him purge his mind of lingering anxieties before going to sleep."
To remove a group of people or unwanted items from an organization, collection, or system in an abrupt or decisive manner.
"The incoming board of directors moved quickly to purge the committee of members with conflicts of interest."
To evacuate the bowels or induce vomiting (especially as a medical treatment or symptom).
"The patient was given activated charcoal rather than a substance designed to purge the stomach."
• Rhymes for purge
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in Middle English from Old French purgier, from Latin purgare ('to cleanse, purify'), a contraction of purificare, derived from purus ('pure, clean') and agere ('to do, make, drive').