Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The condition or quality of being chaste, especially the condition of not having had sexual intercourse or of abstaining from sexual relations.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or quality of being chaste; the state of being guiltless of unlawful sexual intercourse; sexual purity.
  • noun Celibacy; the unmarried state.
  • noun Abstinence from lawful indulgence of sexual intercourse; continence due to a religious motive.
  • noun Freedom from obscenity, depravity, or impurity, as in thought, language, or life; moral purity.
  • noun Purity and simplicity of style in writing.—
  • noun In art, freedom from meretricious ornament or affectation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The state of being chaste; purity of body; freedom from unlawful sexual intercourse.
  • noun Moral purity.
  • noun obsolete The unmarried life; celibacy.
  • noun (Literature & Art) Chasteness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state of abstaining from sexual intercourse before or outside of marriage; avoidance of sexual sins; the quality of being chaste; moral purity.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun abstaining from sexual relations (as because of religious vows)
  • noun morality with respect to sexual relations

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English chastite, from Old French chastete, from Latin castitās, from castus, pure; see chaste.]

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  • Something we'd all be better without.

    July 30, 2008