(~s, purging, ~d)
1.
To ~ an organization of its unacceptable members means to remove them from it. You can also talk about purging people from an organization.
The leadership voted to ~ the party of ‘hostile and anti-party elements’...
He recently ~d the armed forces, sending hundreds of officers into retirement...
They have ~d thousands from the upper levels of the civil service.
VERB: V n of n, V n, V n from n
•
Purge is also a noun.
The army have called for a more thorough ~ of people associated with the late President...
N-COUNT: oft N of n
2.
If you ~ something of undesirable things, you get rid of them.
He closed his eyes and lay still, trying to ~ his mind of anxiety...
= rid
VERB: V n of n, also V n