purging en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
From Middle English purgynge; equivalent to purge + -ing.
Meanings
- (countable, uncountable) The act or an instance of eliminating contamination: a purification, a cleansing ▸ A removal of undesirable people.
- (countable, uncountable) The act or an instance of eliminating contamination: a purification, a cleansing ▸ The cleansing of a device by flushing it with water, steam, or some other liquid or gas.
- (countable, qualifier:premodern medicine, uncountable) The removal of waste from the human body ▸ The removal of excess humors through bloodletting, induced vomiting, etc.
- (countable, uncountable) The removal of waste from the human body ▸ The removal of digested waste: defecation; defecation induced by laxatives.
-
(countable, uncountable) Vomiting; vomiting induced by purgatives.
He had violent pains in his belly, and purgings...
1849, The Journal of Health and Disease, page 98:
- (countable, obsolete, rare, uncountable) That which is purged: contamination, a contaminant; refuse; sin; etc.
- (countable, obsolete, rare, uncountable) Synonym of purgation: the act or an instance of removing guilt or suspicion of a misdeed.
-
(countable, uncountable) The process in which acne temporarily worsened due to the introduction of skincare products that increase cell turnover, bringing underlying acne to the surface more quickly.
Skin purging looks a lot like acne, but they are not the same. Skin purging may have many of the skin issues of acne, but it’s the storm before the calm, versus the other way around.
2025 May 6, Michele Jordan, “Skin Purging: Causes, Signs, and Treatment”, in webmd.com, archived from the original on 10 Mar 2026:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| purgings | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
purging place · purging nut · purging cassia
Synonyms
purgation · purge (removal of undesirables) · vomiting and Thesaurus:regurgitate (vomiting) · and Thesaurus:feces · witchhunt (removal of undesirables) · vomit · defecation (defecation) · blood (thing purged) · sin