defloration

[ def-luh-rey-shuhn, dee-fluh- ]

noun

1. the act of deflowering.

defloration

/ ˌdiːflɔːˈreɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of deflowering

Word History and Origins

Origin of defloration¹

1350–1400; Middle English defloracioun < Old French defloracion < Late Latin dēflōrātiōn- (stem of dēflōrātiō ) a plucking of flowers, equivalent to dēflōrāt ( us ) (past participle of dēflōrāre to deflower ) + -iōn- -ion

Word History and Origins

Origin of defloration¹

C15: from Late Latin dēflorātiō ; see de- , flower

Example Sentences

One of the movie’s funniest, most satisfying moments is a reconstruction of Hamrouni’s wedding night, in which she refuses her groom’s clumsy advances and ingeniously subverts the traditional flaunting of a virgin bride’s defloration.

From Los Angeles Times

Chicago Tribune movie critic Michael Wilmington wrote in 1996 that Mr. Legrand’s “music is so deceptively light, bubbly and seemingly inconsequential that the movie, at first, seems to be courting musical as well as dramatic banality. Yet when ‘Cherbourg’ segues into its big ballad at the first defloration and railroad-station parting of the lovers — the unforgettable ‘I Will Wait for You’ — there’s such a startling surge of emotion that it almost catches you unawares.

From Washington Post

Reducing the “pain of defloration”

From Salon

Despite Soviet prohibition, Russian women in the 1930s used cannabis mixed with lamb’s fat, or nasha, on their wedding night “to reduce the pain of defloration.”

From Salon

About her defloration, and the dagger as well?

From Literature