chastity
Americannoun
noun
-
the state of being chaste; purity
-
abstention from sexual intercourse; virginity or celibacy
a vow of chastity
Usage
What does chastity mean? Chastity most commonly refers to the quality or virtue of refraining from sexual activity that’s considered immoral, especially according to the teachings of a certain religion.It sometimes means about the same thing as celibacy—refraining from all sexual activity. When members of certain religions take a vow of chastity, this is usually what it means.Chastity is the quality of being chaste. The word chaste can be used to describe someone who refrains sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity. Chaste can also be used in a more general way to mean morally pure.Example: When I went to Catholic high school, my religion teachers always emphasized the virtue of chastity.
Other Word Forms
- nonchastity noun
Etymology
Origin of chastity
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English chastite, variant of chastete, from Old French, from Latin castitāt-, stem of castitās; equivalent to chaste + -ity
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A monk named Paschalis devotes his life to a biography of the noncanonical saint Wilgefortis, a venerated Christian noblewoman who grew a beard to vouchsafe her chastity.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025
Born Henri Grouès in 1912 in Lyon, Abbé Pierre was ordained in 1938, taking a vow of chastity.
From BBC • Sep. 9, 2024
Franklin maintained his own list of virtues: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility.
From National Geographic • Nov. 8, 2023
By 1982, Ms. Kempton had taken a vow of chastity and poverty to live as a monk in Baba’s ashrams, first in India and then in a former borscht belt hotel in the Catskills.
From New York Times • Jul. 16, 2023
On top of the more or less social tangle in which he found himself, there was a personal puzzle—for he put a higher value cm chastity than is fashionable in our century.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
