What does pristine mean?
Word: Pristine
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Pristine means perfectly clean and fresh, as if new or never touched.
How do you spell pristine?
Syllables: pris - tine
Tricky part: The ending sounds like een but is spelt ine, so pupils who trust their ears go wrong at the close of the word.
Watch out for: pristeen, pristene, pristin
Memory tip: A magazine still in its wrapper is pristine, and both words close with an ine that says een.
Pristine in a sentence
Example 1: The snow on the mountain lay pristine in the morning light.
Example 2: He keeps his stamp album in pristine condition.
Example 3: Few pristine rivers are left near big cities.
Fun Fact
Pristine comes from Latin pristinus, 'former', and for centuries it meant belonging to the earliest times. The sense of perfectly clean came much later.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
prisstine
a) t
b) s
c) r
d) p
Show answer
b) s. Between the i and the t there is room for only one s.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Volunteers from our school spent the whole weekend picking up litter so that the prestine beach near Puri would stay lovely.
a) weekend
b) Volunteers
c) prestine
d) litter
Show answer
c) prestine. The vowel straight after the r is an i.
Mingle-Mangle
The sentence contains a jumbled word. Choose the word it hides:
After a long climb, the hikers reached a ieispnrt lake high in the hills.
a) plastic
b) pristine
c) printed
d) primitive
Show answer
b) pristine. Eight letters with two i's and an n: primitive has a v, printed a d and plastic an a.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word pristine as used in the sentence:
After two hours of hard work, her old bicycle looked pristine again.
a) faded
b) immaculate
c) crowded
d) ordinary
Show answer
b) immaculate. A bicycle without a mark on it looks immaculate.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which place is most likely to be described as pristine?
a) a forest that no road has reached
b) a bus stop covered in old posters
c) a playground after a muddy match
d) a market at the end of a busy sale
Show answer
a) a forest that no road has reached
2. Arjun is selling a comic in pristine condition. What would a buyer expect?
a) a torn cover taped neatly into place
b) no tears, marks or bent corners
c) pages faded by years of strong sun
d) a few coloured-in pages at the back
Show answer
b) no tears, marks or bent corners
