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• virgin
  virgin

  noun

  a person who has never had sexual intercourse.
• Virgin
  Virgin

  noun

  See Virgin Mary

virgin

American  

[vur-jin] / ˈvɜr dʒɪn /

noun

• virgins
  plural

1. a person who has never had sexual intercourse.

2. an unmarried girl or woman.

   Synonyms:

   maiden, maid

3. Ecclesiastical. an unmarried, religious woman, especially a saint.

4. the Virgin, Mary, the mother of Christ.

5. Informal. any person who is uninitiated, uninformed, or the like.

   He's still a virgin as far as hard work is concerned.

6. a female animal that has never copulated.

7. an unfertilized insect.

8. Astronomy, Astrology. Virgin, the constellation or sign of Virgo.

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adjective

1. being a virgin.

   a virgin martyr.

2. of, relating to, or characteristic of a virgin.

   virgin modesty.

3. pure; unsullied; undefiled.

   virgin snow.

   Synonyms:

   chaste

   Antonyms:

   defiled

4. first.

   the senator's virgin speech.

5. without admixture, alloy, or modification.

   virgin gold.

   Synonyms:

   unadulterated, unalloyed

   Antonyms:

   impure

6. not previously exploited, cultivated, tapped, or used: virgin wool.

   virgin timberlands;

   virgin wool.

   Synonyms:

   untouched, pristine, new

7. without experience of; not previously exposed to.

   a mind virgin to such sorrows.

8. Informal. being a mixed drink resembling a specific cocktail but made without any alcoholic ingredient.

   a virgin piña colada.

9. Zoology. not fertilized.

10. (of a metal) made directly from ore by smelting, rather than from scrap.

11. noting the oil obtained, as from olives, by the first pressing without the application of heat.

virgin ¹ British  

/ ˈvɜːdʒɪn /

noun

1. a person, esp a woman, who has never had sexual intercourse

2. an unmarried woman who has taken a religious vow of chastity in order to dedicate herself totally to God

3. any female animal that has never mated

4. a female insect that produces offspring by parthenogenesis

5. a person who is new to or inexperienced in a specified field

   a political virgin

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adjective

1. of, relating to, resembling, suitable for, or characteristic of a virgin or virgins; chaste

2. pure and natural, uncorrupted, unsullied, or untouched

   virgin purity

3. not yet cultivated, explored, exploited, etc, by man

   virgin territories

4. being the first or happening for the first time

5. (of vegetable oils) obtained directly by the first pressing of fruits, leaves, or seeds of plants without applying heat

6. (of a metal) made from an ore rather than from scrap

7. occurring naturally in a pure and uncombined form

   virgin silver

8. physics (of a neutron) not having experienced a collision

Virgin ² British  

/ ˈvɜːdʒɪn /

noun

1. See Virgin Mary

2. a statue or other artistic representation of the Virgin Mary

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Virgin ³ British  

/ ˈvɜːdʒɪn /

noun

1. the constellation Virgo, the sixth sign of the zodiac

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unvirgin
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• virgins
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of virgin

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English virgine, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Latin virgin-, stem of virgō “maiden, virgin”

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Explanation

A virgin is someone who has never had sex. After you have sex, you've lost your virginity. We can also say an unharvested forest is a virgin forest. Virgins haven't had sex yet. But this word is also used in a non-sexual sense to describe something that remains pristine, untouched, or uninitiated. A virgin resource hasn't been used yet. If you've never given a speech, someone might call you a "public speaking virgin." So virgin always means inexperienced or unused, whether you're talking about sex or something else.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

virgin Virgin virgins

Pesto is made here with basil, extra virgin olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and grated cheese, all ground to a thick paste.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

It is the last plant in the UK producing virgin steel, which is used in major construction projects like buildings and railways.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

Participants with higher cumulative intake of extra virgin olive oil had a lower risk of a broad cardiovascular outcome, while common olive oil showed weaker associations.

From Science Daily ● May 19, 2026

Typically, recycled plastic is more expensive than virgin plastic.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

In his letter, Grandpa told Mama and Papa that he had done some trading with a Cherokee Indian for sixty acres of virgin land, and that it was theirs if they wanted it.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

It has done ads for Virgin and Toys R Us.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

His late ’90s breakthrough in the triple-hitter lineup of “Halloween: H20,” “The Faculty” and “The Virgin Suicides” catapulted him to international fame practically overnight, cementing his place alongside the era’s Tiger Beat celebrity infatuations.

From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026

About a month later, they pulled off their first small-group flotilla in the Spanish Virgin Islands.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Robert Joyce, director of mobile access engineering at Virgin Media O2, said: "If we can't find a replacement site before we remove that equipment then we can have a coverage hole in that location."

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

The Louvre values the Mona Lisa at far less than another Leonardo, his Virgin of the Rocks, and both are valued at a fraction of the works of Raphael.

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day

Working with mice, the researchers first created four test groups: unstressed virgins, stressed virgins, unstressed mothers and stressed mothers.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 16, 2024

Folklore, particularly in the Muslim world, contains many stories of women who breastfed children other than their own, including tales of virgins doing so without ever having given birth.

From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2023

Before we start: a wee plot summary for the “Sleepless in Seattle” virgins out there.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 20, 2023

Millions of people know what he did this time, but for the benefit of the blessed news cycle virgins who have avoided the latest fracas, here's a brief recap.

From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2023

Arthur’s were of the pitiful spectacle— the show of an earthly, sinful man, but the best of them, plodding along behind these three supernatural virgins; his doomed, courageous, vain toil.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

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