Adjacent Words

Chaste definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CHASTE, a.
1. Pure from all unlawful commerce of sexes. Applied to persons before marriage, it signifies pure from all sexual commerce, undefiled; applied to married persons, true to the marriage bed.
2. Free from obscenity.
While they behold your chaste conversation. 1 Peter 3.
3. In language, pure; genuine; uncorrupt; free from barbarous words and phrases, and from quaint, affected, extravagant expressions.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: morally pure (especially not having experienced sexual intercourse); "a holy woman innocent and chaste" [ant: unchaste]
2: pure and simple in design or style; "a chaste border of conventionalized flowers"
3: abstaining from unlawful sexual intercourse

Merriam Webster's

adjective (chaster; chastest) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin castus pure Date: 13th century 1. innocent of unlawful sexual intercourse 2. celibate 3. pure in thought and act ; modest 4. a. severely simple in design or execution ; austere <chaste classicism> b. clean, spotless • chastely adverb • chasteness noun Synonyms: chaste, pure, modest, decent mean free from all taint of what is lewd or salacious. chaste primarily implies a refraining from acts or even thoughts or desires that are not virginal or not sanctioned by marriage vows <they maintained chaste relations>. pure differs from chaste in implying innocence and absence of temptation rather than control of one's impulses and actions <the pure of heart>. modest and decent apply especially to deportment and dress as outward signs of inward chastity or purity <preferred more modest swimsuits> <decent people didn't go to such movies>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 abstaining from extramarital, or from all, sexual intercourse. 2 (of behaviour, speech, etc.) pure, virtuous, decent. 3 (of artistic etc. style) simple, unadorned. Phrases and idioms: chaste-tree an ornamental shrub, Vitex agnus-castus, with blue or white flowers. Derivatives: chastely adv. chasteness n. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L castus

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chaste Chaste (ch[=a]st), a. [F. chaste, from L. castus pure, chaste; cf. Gr. kaqaro`s pure, Skr. [,c]udth to purify.] 1. Pure from unlawful sexual intercourse; virtuous; continent. ``As chaste as Diana.'' --Shak. Whose bed is undefiled and chaste pronounced. --Milton. 2. Pure in thought and act; innocent; free from lewdness and obscenity, or indecency in act or speech; modest; as, a chaste mind; chaste eyes. 3. Pure in design and expression; correct; free from barbarisms or vulgarisms; refined; simple; as, a chaste style in composition or art. That great model of chaste, lofty, and eloquence, the Book of Common Prayer. --Macaulay. 4. Unmarried. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Syn: Undefiled; pure; virtuous; continent; immaculate; spotless. Chaste tree. Same as Agnus castus.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe a person or their behaviour as chaste, you mean that they do not have sex with anyone, or they only have sex with their husband or wife. (OLD-FASHIONED) He remained chaste... ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Pure, undefiled, virtuous, pure-minded, modest, continent. 2. Free from impurity, free from obscenity, pure, clean, elevated. 3. Uncorrupt, pure, unaffected, simple, neat free from barbarisms, in good taste, chastened. 4. Refined, elegant, classic.

Moby Thesaurus

Apostolic, Attic, Ciceronian, Encratic, Lenten, Pythagorean, Rechabite, Shaker, Spartan, Stoic, abase, absolute, abstemious, abstinent, aesthetic, afflict, artistic, ascetic, austere, bare, basic, becoming, beyond all praise, blotless, castigate, celibate, chasten, chastise, choice, classic, classical, clean, cleanly, clear, common, commonplace, continent, correct, decent, decorous, defectless, direct, discipline, easy, elegant, elementary, essential, ethical, everyday, excellent, faultless, finished, flawless, fruitarian, fundamental, garden, garden-variety, good, graceful, gracile, guiltless, homely, homespun, homogeneous, household, humble, humiliate, ideal, immaculate, impeccable, in good taste, indefectible, indefective, indivisible, infallible, innocent, irreducible, irreproachable, just right, limpid, lucid, maidenly, matter-of-fact, mere, modest, monolithic, moral, natural, neat, nephalistic, nondescript, of a piece, of choice, of quality, on the wagon, ordinary, peerless, pellucid, perfect, perspicuous, plain, pleasing, polished, primal, primary, proper, prosaic, prosy, pure, pure and simple, pure in heart, purehearted, quiet, refined, restrained, righteous, round, seemly, severe, sexually abstinent, sexually innocent, simon-pure, simple, single, sinless, snowy, spare, spotless, stainless, stark, straightforward, subdued, sworn off, taintless, tasteful, teetotal, terse, trim, try, unadorned, unadulterated, unaffected, unblemished, unblotted, uncluttered, uncontaminated, uncorrupt, undecorated, undefiled, understated, undifferenced, undifferentiated, unembellished, unfaultable, uniform, unlabored, unmixed, unobtrusive, unsoiled, unspotted, unstained, unsullied, untainted, untarnished, vegetarian, virgin, virginal, virtuous, well-chosen, white, wholesome, workaday, workday