purity test

English

Noun

purity test (plural purity tests)

1. An informal survey that assesses the participant's supposed degree of innocence in worldly matters, such as sex, drugs, and deceit.
   • 2017, Jonathan P. Eburne, Benjamin Schreier, The Year's Work in Nerds, Wonks, and Neocons, page 224:

     […] popular online “purity tests,” which use a series of 500 questions about sexual experience and drug use to establish one's level of “purity.”

2. (politics) A rigid standard on a specific issue by which a politician or other figure is evaluated.
   • 2019, Jessica S. Mitchell, Erin N. Vaughn, Participatory Literacy Practices for P-12 Classrooms in the Digital Age, page 211:

     To begin, we return to Will: “What started as a critical reading of a children's book became a social justice 'racial equity' purity test full of hypocrisy”.

Derived terms

• nerdity test