immaculate
/ɪˈmæk.jʊ.lət/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.37 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Containing no mistakes; free from fault.
adj
Containing no mistakes; free from fault.
adj
Of the Virgin Mary or her womb: pure, undefiled.
Example Sentences
- "O loyall Father, of a treacherous Sonne, / Thou ſheere immaculate and ſiluer Fountaine, / From vvhence this ſtreame, through muddy paſſages, / Hath held his current, and defild himſelfe."
- "So in immaculate clothes, and Symetrie / Perfect as circles, vvith ſuch nicetie / As a young Preacher at his firſt time goes / To preach, he enters, […]"
- "So firſt to preach a vvhite-glov'd Chaplain goes, / VVith Band of Lily, and vvith Cheek of Roſe, / Svveeter than Sharon, in immaculate trim, / Neatneſs itſelf impertinent in him."
- "Every rustle of her silvery silk gown, every fold of the snowy kerchief on her neck, every plait of her immaculate cap, spoke a soul long retired from this world and its cares."
- "Take not thy flight ſo ſoone immaculate ſpirit."
- "Were but my ſoul as pure / From other guilts as that, Heaven did not hold / One more immaculate."
Etymology
From Late Middle English immaculat, immaculate (“blameless; flawless, spotless; specifically of the Virgin Mary: pure, undefiled”), borrowed from Latin immaculātus (“unstained”), from im- (negative prefix) + maculātus (“stained, spotted; defiled, polluted; (figurative) dishonoured”), the perfect passive participle of maculō (“to spot, stain; to defile, pollute; (figurative) to dishonour”), from macula (“a blemish, spot, stain; (figurative) blot on one’s character, fault”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *smh₂-tló-m (“wiping (?)”), from *smeh₂- (“to rub; to smear”). The word displaced Middle English unwemmed (“pure, untainted”). See also -ate (adjective-forming suffix). By surface analysis, im- + macule + -ate. Cognates * Catalan immaculat * Italian immacolato, immaculato (obsolete) * Middle French immaculé (modern French immaculé) * Portuguese imaculado * Spanish inmaculado
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *smeh₂-, immaculat, immaculātus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪˈmæk.jʊ.lət/
- British English: /ɪˈmækjʊlət/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more immaculate (comparative)
most immaculate (superlative)