chas·ti·ty

(chăs′tĭ-tē)

The condition or quality of being chaste, especially the condition of not having had sexual intercourse or of abstaining from sexual relations.

[Middle English chastite, from Old French chastete, from Latin castitās, from castus, pure; see chaste.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

chastity

(ˈtʃæstɪtɪ)

1. the state of being chaste; purity

2. abstention from sexual intercourse; virginity or celibacy: a vow of chastity.

[C13: from Old French chasteté, from Latin castitās, from castus chaste]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

chas•ti•ty

(ˈtʃæs tɪ ti)

n.

the state or quality of being chaste; moral purity.

[1175–1225; Middle English chastite, variant of chastete < Old French < Latin castitās]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	chastity - abstaining from sexual relations (as because of religious vows) sexual abstention, celibacy abstinence - act or practice of refraining from indulging an appetite faith, religion, religious belief - a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny; "he lost his faith but not his morality"
	2.	chastity - morality with respect to sexual relations sexual morality, virtue morality - concern with the distinction between good and evil or right and wrong; right or good conduct pureness, purity, honor, honour - a woman's virtue or chastity

chastity

noun purity, virtue, innocence, modesty, virginity, celibacy, continence, maidenhood I took a vow of chastity and celibacy when I became a priest.
promiscuity, immorality, profligacy, debauchery, licentiousness, lewdness, wantonness

Quotations
"Give me chastity and continence, but not just now" [St. Augustine of Hippo Confessions]
"chastity - the most unnatural of all the sexual perversions" [Aldous Huxley Eyeless in Gaza]
"The essence of chastity is not the suppression of lust, but the total orientation of one's life towards a goal" [Dietrich Bonhoeffer Letters and Papers from Prison]
"'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity;"
"She that has that, is clad in complete steel" [John Milton Comus]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

chastity

noun

The condition of being chaste:

decency, innocence, modesty, purity, virginity, virtue, virtuousness.

Translations

عِفَّه، طَهارَه

cudnostneposkvrněnost

ærbarhedkyskhed

Keuschheit

chasteté

skírlífi, sakleysi, heiîvirîi

cudnosť

chastity

[ˈtʃæstɪtɪ] N → castidad f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

chastity

[ˈtʃæstɪti] n → chasteté fchastity belt n → ceinture f de chasteté

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

chastity

n (= sexual purity) → Keuschheit f; (= virginity also) → Unberührtheit f, → Reinheit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

chastity

[ˈtʃæstɪtɪ] n → castità

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

chaste

(tʃeist) adjective

pure and virtuous.

chastity (ˈtʃӕstəti) noun

ˈchasteness noun

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Do I counsel you to chastity? Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many almost a vice.

To whom chastity is difficult, it is to be dissuaded: lest it become the road to hell--to filth and lust of soul.

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Chaste women are often proud and froward, as presuming upon the merit of their chastity. It is one of the best bonds, both of chastity and obedience, in the wife, if she think her husband wise; which she will never do, if she find him jealous.

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And whoever reads the life of Cyrus, written by Xenophon, will recognize afterwards in the life of Scipio how that imitation was his glory, and how in chastity, affability, humanity, and liberality Scipio conformed to those things which have been written of Cyrus by Xenophon.

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I do not believe that there was in that genteel Bohemia an intensive culture of chastity, but I do not remember so crude a promiscuity as seems to be practised in the present day.

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Their freedom of expression was at first incomprehensible to her, though she had no difficulty in reconciling it with a lofty chastity which in the Creole woman seems to be inborn and unmistakable.

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Was once lost always lost really true of chastity? she would ask herself.

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Not a single female was present but found some means of expressing her abhorrence of poor Jenny, who bore all very patiently, except the malice of one woman, who reflected upon her person, and tossing up her nose, said, "The man must have a good stomach who would give silk gowns for such sort of trumpery!" Jenny replied to this with a bitterness which might have surprized a judicious person, who had observed the tranquillity with which she bore all the affronts to her chastity; but her patience was perhaps tired out, for this is a virtue which is very apt to be fatigued by exercise.

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But constancy, chastity, good sense, and good nature, were not rated, because they would not bear the charge of collecting.

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It is true that the green Martians are absolutely virtuous, both men and women, with the exception of such degenerates as Tal Hajus; but better far a finer balance of human characteristics even at the expense of a slight and occasional loss of chastity.

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Chastity is the flowering of man; and what are called Genius, Heroism, Holiness, and the like, are but various fruits which succeed it.

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When this crisis was past, when Milady appeared to have resumed her self-possession, which she had never lost; when Felton had seen her recover with the veil of chastity those treasures of love which were only concealed from him to make him desire them the more ardently, he said, "Ah, now!

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