to purify or cleanse, especially to remove impurities or contaminants; used especially in chemistry, medicine, or environmental contexts.
From Latin 'depurare': 'de-' (away) plus 'purus' (pure). The '-ate' verb ending was borrowed from Latin and is extremely productive in English scientific vocabulary.
The Latin root 'purus' (pure) gives us a whole family: pure, purify, depurate—scientists use 'depurate' especially when describing how organisms remove toxins, making it a key term in toxicology and environmental science!
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