Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Abstinence from sexual relations.
- noun The condition of remaining unmarried, especially for religious reasons.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The state of being celibate or unmarried; a single life; voluntary abstention from marriage: as, the celibacy of the clergy.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The state of being unmarried; single life, esp. that of a bachelor, or of one bound by vows not to marry.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Abstaining from
marriage ; the state of being unmarried. - noun Abstaining from
sexual relations.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an unmarried status
- noun abstaining from sexual relations (as because of religious vows)
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Rome does not teach that celibacy is a sacrament; actually, it's marriage that Rome teaches is a sacrament.
Archive 2009-07-01 2009
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Rome does not teach that celibacy is a sacrament; actually, it's marriage that Rome teaches is a sacrament.
Now That's Steamy 2009
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For now, at least, celibacy is not open for discussion.
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"Therefore celibacy is also an imperfect question for a man or a woman."
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Moreover, priestly celibacy is held in great honor in the Eastern Churches and many priests have freely chosen it for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
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The problem with the church's insistence on clerical celibacy is not sexual but social.
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But a look at the behavior of politicians and Protestant ministers -- even just those iceberg tips that actually emerge into daylight -- should tell us that celibacy is a small part of the story.
Valerie Tarico: The Protestant Clergy Sex Abuse Pattern Valerie Tarico 2010
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Pope Benedict XVI said that the Vatican's recent sex-abuse crisis might prompt aspiring priests to question the Catholic Church's requirement that clergy be celibate, wading for the first time into a debate over whether priestly celibacy is partly to blame for the abuse.
World Watch 2010
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But a look at the behavior of politicians and Protestant ministers -- even just those iceberg tips that actually emerge into daylight -- should tell us that celibacy is a small part of the story.
Valerie Tarico: The Protestant Clergy Sex Abuse Pattern Valerie Tarico 2010
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Forcing a doctrine of sin and damnation, combined with mandatory celibacy, is bound to create psychological anguish in the population pre-disposed to these tendencies.
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