See Also: impurity(medicine)
impurity(dictionary)
impurity(dictionary)
impurity control(medicine)

impurity (iou)



impurity noun. LME.
[French impurite (now impurete) or Latin impuritas, formed as IMPURE adjective: see -ITY.]
The quality or condition of being morally impure; moral corruption; lewdness, unchastity; a morally impure thing. LME.
The quality or condition of containing some offensive matter; dirtiness; foul matter, dirt. L16.
The quality or condition of containing foreign matter, esp. of an inferior kind, or of being impure in style; contamination, adulteration; a constituent or element which detracts from purity. E17.
b. An impurity atom; esp. an atom of dopant in the lattice of a semiconductor. M20.
Comb.: impurity atom: of an element different from the bulk of the substance in which it is present; impurity level an energy level in a semiconductor due to an impurity atom; impurity semiconductor: in which most of the carriers of electric current are electrons and holes from impurity atoms.