Purgations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The action of removing undesirable substances or impurities to achieve a state of cleanliness or purity in various situations
2. The process of clearing away unwanted or harmful elements to restore purity
3. The elimination of contaminants or undesirable materials to produce cleanliness

Etymology: "Purgations" is the plural of "purgation," so its history is that of the singular noun. The root is the verb "purge," which English took from Latin "purgare," meaning to make clean or cleanse, built from "purus" (pure) and "agere" (to drive or do). The noun reached Middle English as "purgacioun," borrowed from Anglo-Norman "purgacion," which in turn came from the Latin "pūrgātiō," a cleansing. The suffix "-ation" marks the action or process, so the noun names the act of cleansing itself. Over the centuries the word moved from bodily cleansing toward moral and ceremonial senses. Medieval writers used it for the cleansing of sin, and the same root shaped the older medical sense of purging the body, which is why the word still carries a hint of sweeping something unwanted out. Today it covers removing impurities in almost any setting, from chemistry to politics.

Synonyms: cleansings, purifications, removals, expulsions, eliminations

Antonyms: accumulations, inclusions, retentions, additions, gatherings