pristine
adjective
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When pristine was anglicized in the 16th century, people borrowed the meanings of "early" and "original" from the Latin word pristinus and applied those meanings to what is desirable as well as to what is not. But it has long been a tendency of civilized people to admire a simpler and unsullied past. The supposition is that when things were in their oldest or original state, they were better. Thus, pristine was extended to describe the notion of an unspoiled, uncorrupted, or unpolluted state. And what is unspoiled or uncontaminated may connote the freshness and cleanness of something that has just been made, which explains how pristine has also come to mean "fresh and clean."
Examples of pristine in a Sentence
Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 22 Apr. 2024
Nine more wiggly miles south, McWay Falls cascades onto a pristine beach at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.
—Elaine Glusac, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for pristine 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pristine.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Pristine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pristine. Accessed 3 May. 2024.
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pristine
adjective
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