Crossword clues for purely
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
purely
adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
highly/purely/largely speculative
▪ a purely speculative theory about life on other planets
purely functional
▪ buildings that are sensitively designed, not purely functional
purely hypothetical
▪ The question is purely hypothetical.
purely symbolic
▪ Our protest was meant to be purely symbolic.
purely/completely/entirely coincidental
▪ Any similarity between this film and real events is purely coincidental.
purely/totally/completely objective
▪ the importance of a completely objective, independent press
purely/truly random
▪ a purely random sequence of numbers
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
academic
▪ Are the competing views purely academic debates, or do they also reflect wider social interests? 4.
▪ Cause of death would have been of purely academic interest to the deceased man's widow.
▪ One could be forgiven, however, for viewing this as a purely academic philosophy.
▪ Such divisions are not, so to speak, purely academic.
▪ But asking which of these young overseas players is the better is purely academic.
▪ In this sense we are not concerned to produce a book by academics for a purely academic audience.
aesthetic
▪ From a purely aesthetic viewpoint, I must say that I dislike the design of the volume and tone pots intensely.
▪ All the stuff I do at the gym is purely aesthetic, just for looks.
▪ The purely aesthetic value of their work is easy to appreciate.
▪ Naturally not all the criticism of the massive demolitions in the 1980s was purely aesthetic.
coincidental
▪ Furthermore, the public is told that ail similarities to dolphins are purely coincidental.
commercial
▪ The Fabians have now written to all the contenders assuring them that the decision was made on a purely commercial basis.
▪ This is not owing to purely commercial considerations.
▪ Many solicitors specialise in clients using the legal aid scheme; others deal with purely commercial work.
defensive
▪ There were those who considered it to be a purely defensive step, and this gave rise to rumour.
domestic
▪ All the while, moreover, a number of purely domestic cross-currents were gaining in strength.
▪ These should be harder to reverse than purely domestic initiatives.
▪ Such transactions are recorded in a separate set of books from purely domestic banking business.
▪ The presence of springs and these finds appear to suggest the centre of a healing cult, rather than a purely domestic villa.
▪ The Works Brigade then returned to the purely domestic job of fire protection within the Works.
economic
▪ Liberalizing electricity will increase the pressure on them, for purely economic reasons.
▪ He was a political neuter, and his motivation was purely economic.
▪ To offer purely economic criteria for its identity would be to slide back into economism.
▪ Sometimes the tie was purely economic in rationale.
▪ However, the concern with the cost and scope of the Welfare State has been ideological as well as purely economic.
▪ In short, the purely economic benefits of ending the economy of physical coercion remained debatable.
financial
▪ Traditional friendships and rivalries played at least as important a part in this process as purely financial considerations.
▪ But the motive for following a composite career is often not purely financial.
▪ Schedule 7 is divided into five parts, some of which require information which goes far beyond the purely financial.
▪ The value of unfair dismissal rights is not purely financial.
▪ The owner's claim was for purely financial loss.
▪ But these milestones can not be purely financial - return on assets or earnings per share.
formal
▪ In the case where a Bill has been before a committee of the whole House, it is a purely formal stage.
▪ It occurs as a purely formal emotive element with no reference to the initial representation.
▪ The former met rarely and for purely formal purposes.
▪ Monsieur Colletti made his eyes grow larger in an expression of surprise that was purely formal.
▪ There may also be purely formal grammatical restrictions on what can go first.
functional
▪ In contrast to Livesey's, the room was purely functional.
▪ The roomy silos of the hull flanks gave it a bulbous appearance that defied approval by any aesthetic but the purely functional.
hypothetical
▪ A sterile culture because a purely hypothetical one, he wrote.
▪ Sense organs for lunar and planetary influences, for atmospheric pressure and cosmic rays are as yet purely hypothetical. 2.
internal
▪ Speaking to his party conference he urged purely internal talks involving local parties.
▪ For the time being, this decision to change took place on a purely internal level.
▪ But harmonization of this kind remains purely internal.
linguistic
▪ In some cases the significance of the documents goes far beyond their purely linguistic importance.
▪ So that the fabula, such as it is in this tale, is the product of certain purely linguistic devices.
▪ There is no purely linguistic way of generally marking the intended use.
▪ Thus it may be that children are not accustomed to relying on purely linguistic cues to the deductive mode.
▪ In purely linguistic terms, there are two reasons for this difference between Belfast and certain other studies.
local
▪ The characteristic townsmen worked at a craft to meet purely local demands.
▪ It is said that the operation of the motel here is of a purely local character.
▪ Their action may have resulted from purely local causes: there had been many border clashes.
▪ The most active Liberal associations are keen on stirring up interest in purely local issues - a process known as community politics.
▪ There are dozens of specialist works on the subject of agricultural history, and many more dealing with purely local matters.
▪ The societies, which had at first been purely local became national, with branches throughout Britain.
▪ Nor need this remain a purely local study.
mechanical
▪ The basic picture we need is a purely mechanical one.
▪ She was so mesmerised by their fixed scrutiny that her action was purely mechanical.
▪ The former, in so far as he considers explanations at all, inclines to those that stress the purely mechanical relations between events.
▪ The thinker, on the other hand, finds purely mechanical explanations inadequate.
military
▪ More than half of these are purely military, and only 15 percent are entirely civilian.
▪ If Britain's intervention was purely military, it would be right to describe it as precarious.
▪ But it appeared to us unpolitical citizens a matter of pride, of purely military pride.
▪ But so far, efforts have been focused on purely military solutions.
▪ In purely military terms, the army could feel that it was meeting the challenge in 1957 and early 1958.
▪ First, the liberation of the capital had, in his mind, a symbolic significance which went beyond purely military considerations.
objective
▪ Obviously, purely objective criteria such as the patient's age or the particular illness can not be justified or relied upon.
▪ Clearly, in Satnam and kindred cases, the purely objective stance which Caldwell has been interpreted to represent has been rejected.
personal
▪ There is no payment; the arrangement is purely personal.
▪ This is a purely personal enquiry.
▪ No, that was a purely personal piece of business.
▪ The truly personal diary, intended for purely personal perusal, is a rare thing.
▪ My list of favourite haunts is purely personal and certainly not all-embracing.
▪ My blackness was seen to be a public and political fact, whereas my gayness was seen as a purely personal matter.
▪ But I doubt whether anyone is feeling a purely personal grief.
physical
▪ But a serious accident can cause far more than purely physical damage.
▪ It is this seven-fold entity which man really is although knowing only of the purely physical in himself.
▪ Even something as purely physical as exercising brings its own awareness.
▪ Nor is it some sort of surprising by-product of a purely physical world.
▪ One might think that radical behaviourists such as Skinner would advocate the classification of stimuli along purely physical dimensions.
▪ These findings have not been the only ones showing that belief and expectations are more important than purely physical effects of alcohol.
▪ Was it purely physical or did it have a psychosomatic dimension, as her sudden and dramatic recovery could indicate?
▪ She was stronger than him in every respect save the purely physical.
political
▪ He returned to his contact lists, abandoning the military personnel and concentrating upon purely political figures.
▪ The placement of the prime meridian is a purely political decision.
▪ Some matters are no doubt decided only by reference to their intrinsic merits, others on purely political grounds.
▪ In an increasingly cut-throat environment, purely political, or ideological, considerations may be important, albeit secondary.
practical
▪ I notice, however, that your reasons for not sleeping with me are purely practical.
▪ These alternatives are not, unfortunately, purely intellectual or even purely practical.
▪ For purely practical purposes, I deal with the artists' money for recording and touring expenses.
▪ From a purely practical point of view, there were few alternatives.
▪ Either they must draw back from the spotlight and forfeit their privileges or pick their partners based on purely practical criteria.
▪ So for purely practical reasons, microbes were the best route for discovering new antibiotics.
▪ The problem with old texts being cited is a purely practical one; older texts are hard to come by.
▪ In purely practical terms, Nizan was fully involved in the cultural politics of the period.
private
▪ On the one hand, bringing up children is seen as a purely private matter.
▪ This amount can be estimated from purely private choices involving small risk reductions.
▪ Mr Mellor said the trip was a purely private matter and did not break any rules.
▪ The awareness which finds expression in doctrines is not something purely private and individual.
▪ A closed conference is for purely private discussion which neither wants nor needs publicity.
▪ They are purely private means devised by the neurotic to achieve what is achieved in society by collective effort.
▪ In contrast, the contract theory sees the company as the result of a purely private initiative.
▪ On this day, deaf representatives and missionaries only can be present, the subject being of a purely private character.
professional
▪ However, by 1940 the purely professional academic character of the discipline is much more marked.
▪ But my rivalry with Tuffers will be purely professional because there is no personal animosity between us.
▪ It is better not to extend what was, after all, an accidental and purely professional relationship.
psychological
▪ Feminists also tend to diminish the significance of the unconscious, a move which encourages a purely psychological view of the subject.
▪ As for the effects of Polly Peck's troubles on Vestel, Karan claimed they were purely psychological.
▪ This, like most of the purely psychological theories - including psychoanalytic ones - are strictly methodological-individualistic.
▪ Sometimes they assume that such relations can be altered by intervening at this purely psychological level.
social
▪ Mitchell therefore insists on relations between men, women and children having an instinctive as well as a purely social basis.
▪ It is important to note that dialects are never purely regional, or purely social, or purely ethnic.
▪ But very few psychologists take a purely social approach.
▪ One of the limitations of books of purely social commentary is that they are long on analysis and short on action.
▪ About 95 per cent of all abortions are carried out for purely social reasons.
speculative
▪ While there is undoubtedly a demand for more golf courses, it needs to be underlined that many applications are purely speculative.
▪ Again, this line of reasoning is purely speculative.
▪ However, at present these suggestions remain purely speculative.
▪ All discussions of extraterrestrial civilizations therefore have to be purely speculative.
subjective
▪ It has an irritatingly small backspace key and I think it has a horrible plastic feel, but this is purely subjective.
▪ The truth is, he just grosses me out -- this is purely subjective.
▪ This attitude was, of course, purely subjective, and their appreciation of primitive art was almost entirely emotional.
▪ It is difficult to avoid the feeling that this, one of his first university essays, is purely subjective.
symbolic
▪ Our protest was meant to be purely symbolic.
technical
▪ In purely technical terms, this is all but a truism.
▪ The second reason for having a small circle of suspects is purely technical.
▪ Monopolistic restrictions are imposed where, on purely technical grounds, there could be abundance.
▪ The industry has always claimed that this was a purely technical decision without any political overtones.
theoretical
▪ From a purely theoretical point of view, there is some logic to this.
▪ The purely theoretical becomes the truly real, and that which is experienced as real becomes merely an illusion.
■ VERB
based
▪ The formal agreement between the two parties is based purely upon an agreed discount rate.
▪ Most of us arrange our bedrooms based purely on personal preference.
▪ It is essential that the decisions taken should not be based purely on narrow scientific considerations.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Goldman said attendance on the program is purely voluntary.
▪ I don't enjoy it, but I jog purely for the sake of good health.
▪ Most plants are planted purely for decoration.
▪ What we have is a purely business arrangement.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ As purely silly movies go, this one is aces.
▪ But then we should all know by now that purely cricketing considerations are less of a priority than once they were.
▪ It is said that the operation of the motel here is of a purely local character.
▪ Mitchell therefore insists on relations between men, women and children having an instinctive as well as a purely social basis.
▪ The Fabians have now written to all the contenders assuring them that the decision was made on a purely commercial basis.
▪ Those who posit a purely biological basis for this phenomenon are ignoring the class or political element.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Purely
Purely \Pure"ly\, adv.
In a pure manner (in any sense of the adjective).
Nicely; prettily. [Archaic]
--Halliwell.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
purely
adv. 1 (context now US regional English) wholly; really, completely. (from 14th c.) 2 solely; exclusively; merely, simply. (from 14th c.) 3 chastely, innocently; in a sinless manner, without fault. (from 15th c.) 4 (context now rare English) Without physical adulterants; refinedly, with no admixture. (from 16th c.)
WordNet
purely
adv. restricted to something; "we talked strictly business" [syn: strictly]
Usage examples of "purely".
But a simpler interpretation of the data suggests it to have been a purely physical effect caused by DDT particles adsorbing to the outside surfaces of the algae and cutting down the light supply.
I recollect his warmth of heart and high sense, and your beauty, gentleness, charms of conversation, and purely disinterested love for one whose great worldly advantages might so easily bias or adulterate affection, I own that I have no dread for your future fate, no feeling that can at all darken the brightness of anticipation.
The advantage of being an Adventurer without a voice in colony affairs would be purely a moral one.
In that hour I learned many things, including the fact that there is something purely acoustic in much of that agnostic sort of reverence.
Over the months, in a series of tutorials, Helen had led him through a small part of the century of physics that had separated them at their first meeting, down to the purely algebraic structures that lay beneath spacetime and matter.
Gaelic song, in the Minor Key, deep and throbbing and full of patient despair and ambitionless longing-he had the Irish fiddle sound in it, the hoarse dark harmony of the lower strings played together in a plea that sounded more purely human than any sound made by child, man or woman.
I invented on the spot three purely imaginary stories, making a great display of tender sentiments and of ardent love, but without alluding to amorous enjoyment, particularly when she seemed to expect me to do so.
Nothing but the purely apocryphal speculation that the dead barber might have threatened Angelo with his razor and that the witnesses might possibly have drawn somewhat upon their imaginations in giving the details of their testimony.
Reasoning from a purely classical standpoint, we would expect this placid and flat image of space to persist all the way to arbitrarily small length scales.
Christmas court in Argentan, victorious Henry escorted the Countess of Poitou through her own domain as Louis had done before him, and left her at last in the deep south with a household purely Poitevin.
LTP might not be a purely artefactual phenomenon, which occurs only in animals which have been reared in the highly restricted environment of a research laboratory?
Dalton had established, purely hypothetically, the theory of the atomistic structure of matter, scientific research was led to the observation of actual atomistic phenomena.
This catechism of the bivalent extended past surfeit into the horror of the purely quantitative.
What I find most repulsive is their well-fed look and that visceral, purely bullish or boarish optimism.
I might believe they loaded everything on the trailing ship and used the lead ship purely as a stripped Bussard ramjet compressor.