celibate

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

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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 Febos finds common ground with both voluntarily and involuntarily celibate individuals. Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 5 June 2025 But my celibate year was one of the happiest of my life. Sarah Viren june 4, Literary Hub, 4 June 2025 When Pope Francis convened Roman Catholic bishops at the Vatican in 2019 to discuss the ordination of married men in remote parts of South America, the meeting raised expectations about the possibility of revolutionizing the celibate priesthood. Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2025 For many traditionalists, effective enforcement of this teaching would mean cracking down on homosexuality among the clergy, including gay clergy who are celibate and chaste. Massimo Faggioli, Foreign Affairs, 11 Oct. 2018 See All Example Sentences for celibate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for celibate
Adjective
  • Chihiro and Hiruhiko were engaging in the sort of passionate but chaste dude-bro melodrama that takes place only in shōnen manga.
    Matt Alt, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025
  • To win the grand prize, 10 contestants must stay as chaste as possible in a house together for four weeks.
    Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 16 July 2025
Adjective
  • Outside the States, Starlink has also won the business of a growing flock of airlines, including plans for fleetwide deployments on the multi-continent carriers Air France, SAS, and Qatar Airways.
    Rob Pegoraro, PC Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
  • Want to hit the sights on a cross-continent trip in a Cayenne?
    Brendan McAleer, Car and Driver, 25 Feb. 2023
Adjective
  • At the time of her birth, her father, Albert, an itinerant merchant and womanizer, was absent and her parents unmarried.
    Leslie Camhi, Travel + Leisure, 15 Sep. 2025
  • If the unmarried grandchildren in your family aren’t allowed to bring home significant others to stay in the same room, then explain to Dana that this policy has to be universally applied.
    R. Eric Thomas, Mercury News, 14 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Official portraits projected her as a modern iteration of 19th-century royal mothers—soft, demure, virginal.
    Air Mail, Air Mail, 10 May 2025
  • In fact, a single Old Testament line might be the source for the virginal aspect of the cult of Mary.
    Lamorna Ash, The Dial, 6 May 2025
Adjective
  • Someone's mispronunciation, for example, might have more do with innocent ignorance as opposed to a mistake worth correcting.
    David Oliver, USA Today, 13 Sep. 2025
  • The new location will allow Wiggam Law to support clients outside of downtown Atlanta and directly in Gwinnett County, offering legal services including audit defense, tax litigation, penalty abatement, innocent spouse relief and IRS collections representation.
    Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes.com, 13 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Innovations In Chemical And Physical Recycling Chemical Recycling is a relatively new technology designed to convert material waste at a molecular level to produce virgin-quality raw materials.
    Han Hendriks, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Too often, developments of this size that pop up on virgin ground get lost to boring cookie-cutter street scaping and architecture.
    The Denver Post Editorial Board, Denver Post, 10 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Celibate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/celibate. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.

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