Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Abstaining from sexual relations.
- adjective Remaining unmarried, especially for religious reasons.
- noun One who abstains from sexual relations.
- noun One who remains unmarried, especially for religious reasons.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A single life; celibacy.
- noun One who adheres to or practises celibacy; a bachelor, especially a confirmed bachelor.
- Unmarried; single: as, a celibate life.
- To lead a single life. Fortnightly Rev.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Unmarried; single.
- noun obsolete Celibate state; celibacy.
- noun One who is unmarried, esp. a bachelor, or one bound by vows not to marry.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Not
married . - adjective by extension Abstaining from sexual relations and pleasures.
- noun Person who is not married, especially one who has taken a religious vow not to get married, usually because of being a member of a religious community.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an unmarried person who has taken a religious vow of chastity
- adjective abstaining from sexual intercourse
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The reason that priests are to remain celibate is financial.
Think Progress » Donohue: ‘There’s a connection between homosexuality and sexual abuse of minors.’ 2010
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And what is happening is an unraveling of the whole, what I call the celibate sexual system.
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All of which points to a question: What if two men love each other, and want to spend their lives living and being together -- but also agree to remain celibate?
John Shore: Christians: With Gay Relationships, Drawing the Line is Impossible John Shore 2010
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These are real people - people who still support the war, people who believe that women should be subservient to men, people who believe that gays should strive to be cured or remain celibate!
MIND MELD: Is Science Fiction Antithetical to Religion? 2008
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No one has asked for assurances that they plan to remain celibate before marriage.
Balkinization 2007
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It is an unnatural state (but then again, aren't lying and stealing also?) and homosexuals should not embrace their sinful nature and should remain celibate if loving the opposite sex prove too difficult.
Slaying Evil Francis 2006
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He will never marry and will remain celibate all of his life.
Chaos Theory: 2004
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He will never marry and will remain celibate all of his life.
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A tramp, therefore, is a celibate from the moment when he takes to the road.
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If they want to remain celibate, well that’s their custom.
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