Purine
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Any of a class of organic heterocyclic compounds, composed of fused pyrimidine and imidazole rings, that constitute one of the two groups of organic nitrogenous bases (the other being the pyrimidines) and are components of nucleic acids. countable, uncountable
"1982, Ray A. Field, Mechanically Deboned Red Meat, C. O. Chichester, George Franklin Stewart, Advances in Food Research, Volume 27, page 67, Clifford et al. (1976) investigated the metabolism of individual purines and found that adenine, and to a lesser extent hypoxanthine, had pronounced effects on blood uric acid levels. The purine content of foods, in particular adenine, would therefore be of immense nutritional significance."
- 2 a colorless crystalline organic base containing nitrogen; the parent compound of various biologically important substances wordnet
- 3 any of several bases that are derivatives of purine wordnet
Example
More examples"1982, Ray A. Field, Mechanically Deboned Red Meat, C. O. Chichester, George Franklin Stewart, Advances in Food Research, Volume 27, page 67, Clifford et al. (1976) investigated the metabolism of individual purines and found that adenine, and to a lesser extent hypoxanthine, had pronounced effects on blood uric acid levels. The purine content of foods, in particular adenine, would therefore be of immense nutritional significance."
Etymology
Borrowed from German Purin.
Related phrases
More for "purine"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.