celibate
/ˈsɛləbət/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.73 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Not married.
adj
Abstaining from sexual relations and pleasures.
noun
One 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.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Members of religious communities sometimes take vows to remain celibate."
- "Juanita went celibate for a while and then started going out with Da5id and eventually got married to him."
- "Even during the ages that priestly marriage was permitted, celibates obtained a higher reputation for sanctity and virtue than married priests, who infinitely more than celibates were believed subject to infestation by demons."
- "However, be that as it may, Stason celebrated with the boys while Hessel celibated alone."
- "These kids were winding up 45 years and 4 days of celebrating. Me? I'm winding up seven years of celibating looking for a patient virgin."
- "RICHARD: The Franciscans have turned me down, Angelina. They have asked me to travel another road to sainthood. TOM: Richard is done with celibating!"
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
cælibate (alternative, archaic)
cœlibate (alternative, archaic)
celibates (present, singular)
celibating (participle, present)
celibated (participle, past)
celibated (past)