Definitions

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

  • adjective Ready for marriage; of a marriageable age or condition. Used of young women.
  • adjective Sexually mature and attractive. Used of young women.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of an age suitable for marriage; marriageable.

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

  • adjective Of an age suitable for marriage; marriageable.
  • adjective Sexually attractive, sometimes used as a genteel euphemism for having well-developed breasts; -- of a young woman.

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

  • adjective of an age suitable for marriage; marriageable (used of a young woman).
  • adjective sexually attractive (used of a young woman).
  • noun A young sexually-attractive woman

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

  • adjective of girls or women who are eligible to marry

Etymologies

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

[Latin nūbilis, from nūbere, to take a husband.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French nubile, from Latin nubilis ("marriageable"), from nūbō ("marry, to take as husband"), from Proto-Indo-European *sneubho- (“to marry, to wed”). Possibly cognate with Ancient Greek νύμφη ("bride, young wife, nymph") (English nymph), but this is disputed.

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Examples

  • He finally baptizes a nubile village girl, and their ecstatic duet suggests they shared more than a mere dunk.

    NYT > Global Home By LAURIE GOODSTEIN 2011

  • The word "nubile" you use implies sexuality in the girl, and if you look at Linda Blair, Jennifer Carpenter and Ashley Bell, it's the innocence and lack of sexuality of these girls that make them perfect victims for the devil.

    Eli Roth Knows What's Scary 2010

  • Someday, forensic shows will let young male artists know that what they think is "nubile" is really "effects of a previous pregnancy".

    New Conan Art! Reis O'Brien 2009

  • This is obviously not sexualization, but the socialization is part of the structure that supports the sexualization, once they hit that "nubile" *grrr* state.

    Speaking of Pandarus Heo 2007

  • It's turn-of-the-century Washington D.C. and you've got a string of murders, a vampire woman, her diplomat husband, a British ambassador, his "nubile" daughter God only knows how many times that adjective describes her, a hardheaded police detective, a drunk bum of a would-be private detective, a priest, a suspicious doctor, and a sadistic cat.

    Archive 2005-06-26 2005

  • It's turn-of-the-century Washington D.C. and you've got a string of murders, a vampire woman, her diplomat husband, a British ambassador, his "nubile" daughter God only knows how many times that adjective describes her, a hardheaded police detective, a drunk bum of a would-be private detective, a priest, a suspicious doctor, and a sadistic cat.

    THE VIRGIN AND THE VAMPIRE by Robert J. Myers (Pocket 1977) 2005

  • I'm sure he meant "nubile". just now, -0/+1So, now Nokia will have three operating systems?

    Original Signal - Transmitting Digg 2010

  • But, eh, did you say your six-year old thumbs were more "nubile" in that last video when talking about the joystick (which looks like Atari, not commodore to me)?!?!?

    Jeremy Zawodny's linkblog 2009

  • Gonna go all soft porn with the nubile women and all howsabout some nice boymeat to oogle ...

    Why I Hate the Booth Babe Story, a Guest Editorial by Holly A. 2010

  • Gonna go all soft porn with the nubile women and all howsabout some nice boymeat to oogle ...

    Why I Hate the Booth Babe Story, a Guest Editorial by Holly A. 2010

Comments

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  • I like the various forms of this word, nubiler, nubilest, and my favorite, nubility.

    May 15, 2007

  • God this word is so creepy!

    September 11, 2008

  • God this word is so creepy!

    September 11, 2008

  • Yeah, it IS a little creepy, isn't it?

    September 11, 2008

  • it practically gives me the creeps just looking at it

    September 26, 2008

  • I think the creepiness of this word is because we imagine it being said by salivating pedophiles.

    September 26, 2008

  • Sounds better in Italian.

    September 26, 2008

  • NUBILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    is a word

    .

    October 11, 2008

  • It reminds me of nipples.

    November 9, 2008