Purbeck was a local government district in Dorset, England.

However, it extended significantly further north and west than the traditional boundary of the Isle of Purbeck which is the River Frome.

The district council was based in the town of Wareham, which is itself north of the Frome.

The district and its council were abolished on 1 April 2019, together with the other four districts outside the greater Bournemouth area, to form a new Dorset unitary authority.

[1] Its name is recorded in 948 AD as Anglo-Saxon Purbicinga, meaning "of the people of Purbic", where Purbic may be a former Celtic name, or may contain a supposed Anglo-Saxon word *pur or "male lamb".