celibate

as in chaste
not engaging in sexual intercourse celibate monks and nuns They have chosen to lead celibate lives.

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of celibate In addition to Omarion and Lenny, singer Mya has also shared that she’s been celibate for seven years, and it’s given her mental clarity. Elizabeth Ayoola, Essence, 12 Sep. 2024 In an interview on the Sept. 4 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the 49-year-old rap mogul — who's reportedly nearing billionaire status — opened up about his choice to lead a celibate lifestyle and why he's never been married. Jack Irvin, Peoplemag, 5 Sep. 2024 Julia Fox, Lenny Kravitz and Khloé Kardashian have all come out as celibate in the last three months. Anne Branigin, Washington Post, 21 July 2024 As if women didn’t already have enough reason to fear men, the rise of the incel (involuntarily celibate) movement surely represents one of the most disheartening and dangerous subcultures to have sprung from the internet’s rotten skull. Chris Wheatley, Longreads, 6 June 2024 See All Example Sentences for celibate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for celibate
Adjective
  • Hellbent on destroying the pure, chaste and overly self-righteous preacher who denied her satisfaction, Salome performs a seductive dance at her stepfather Herod’s birthday feast.
    E.R. Zarevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Mar. 2025
  • The medieval image of rape—as the act of a violent stranger upon a chaste victim who goes straight to the authorities—persisted undisturbed in American courts through the nineteen-sixties.
    Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 3 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • The cross-continent trek for Rye Riptides, which students and now-retired Rye Junior High School science teacher Sheila Adams stuffed with photos of the Rye students, a facemask with their signatures on it, fall leaves, acorns and state quarters, was conducted with the help of Educational Passages.
    Ian Lenahan, USA TODAY, 17 Feb. 2022
  • The totem pole was carved by members of the Lummi Nation and is being transported from their home in Washington state to Washington, D.C., as part of a 15-day, cross-continent journey to advocate for the protection of sacred places and the expansion of tribal sovereignty rights.
    Zak Podmore, The Salt Lake Tribune, 18 July 2021
Adjective
  • Ponzi schemes are most often associated with men, such as Bernie Madoff or Allen Stanford but the originator of this simple, but effective scam was a woman, Sarah Howe, who also in Boston in 1879 established the Ladies’ Deposit Company, a bank that took deposits only from unmarried women.
    Steve Weisman, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2025
  • By the numbers: 61% of percent of 20-and-older residents in New Orleans, including Metairie, are unmarried, compared to the national average of 49.1%.
    Alex Fitzpatrick, Axios, 14 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Why keep up this fake pretense that each date is somehow brand-new, virginal?
    Anelise Chen, The Atlantic, 25 Feb. 2025
  • Her approach is a clean break from the 19th-century tradition of American landscape art, in which de facto propagandists like Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Cole depicted land as radiant and virginal, the birthright of any colonial buccaneer drunk on Manifest Destiny.
    Jeremy Lybarger, ARTnews.com, 6 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • In a race against time, Melissa must figure out if an innocent man is going to die for a crime her father really committed.
    Abigail Lee, Variety, 5 Mar. 2025
  • Dangerously selfish, vain and proud, Wilde’s Salome is anything but innocent.
    E.R. Zarevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • These oils should have a high smoke point, more flavor, and aroma than virgin oils.
    Patty Weasler, RN, BSN, Verywell Health, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Carbon dioxide emission savings were compared to producing virgin PET made from fossil fuels and avoiding incineration of waste used as feedstock.
    Alexandra Harrell, Sourcing Journal, 24 Feb. 2025

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“Celibate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/celibate. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.

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