chaste
Americanadjective
-
refraining from sexual intercourse that is regarded as contrary to morality or religion; virtuous.
- Synonyms:
- continent
- Antonyms:
- immoral
-
not engaging in sexual relations; celibate.
-
free from obscenity; decent.
chaste conversation.
- Antonyms:
- coarse
-
undefiled or stainless.
chaste, white snow.
- Synonyms:
- unsullied
-
pure in style; not excessively ornamented; simple.
- Synonyms:
- neat, unaffected
- Antonyms:
- ornate
-
Obsolete. not married.
adjective
-
not having experienced sexual intercourse; virginal
-
abstaining from sexual intercourse, esp that which is unlawful or immoral
-
(of conduct, speech, etc) pure; decent; modest
-
(of style or taste) free from embellishment; simple; restrained
Usage
What does chaste mean? Chaste is most commonly used to describe someone who refrains from sexual activity that’s considered immoral, especially according to the teachings of a certain religion. The state or quality of being chaste is chastity. The word chaste can also be used to describe someone who refrains from all sexual activity—someone who is celibate. When members of certain religions take a vow of chastity, this is usually what it means. 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 being chaste.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of chaste
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin castus “clean, pure, chaste”
Explanation
If you belong to a chastity club, you might have to take a pledge to be chaste until marriage. Chaste can be defined as "pure and virtuous," but basically it means "not having sex." This word is related to the Latin source of the verb castrate "to remove a man's testicles," so it's definitely related to sex. And chaste is from the same Latin source as the noun caste "a Hindu social class separated from other classes." So the word chaste means no sex, and the word caste means pure and virtuous.
Vocabulary lists containing chaste
Mythology
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The Merchant of Venice
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The Odyssey
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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.
See Examples For:
Jesus is widely thought to have never married and to have lived a chaste life.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
She says the idea of the Sisterhood choosing to be chaste and not have men around is something considered “intensely mysterious and threatening.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2024
K-dramas are famously chaste, which is part of their global appeal.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2023
Still, these were details ABC might have accounted for before constructing the sensitive, chaste gentleman fantasy that made everyone weak in the knees.
From Salon ● Dec. 2, 2023
We aren’t going to the river though, we won’t see the little cupolas on the buildings down that way, white with blue and gold trim, such chaste gaiety.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
Then blush no more; but let thy chaster flame, That knows no cause, know no effects of shame.
From Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics, Complete, In Their Collated Readings of 1647, 1651, 1657. With an Introduction, Textual Notes, A List of Editions, An Appendis of Translation, and a Portrait. by Thomas Stanley
You are the noblest among noble men, and finer soldiers than the Russians, and a chaster woman than the Empress Elizabeth, are not to be found anywhere.
From The Merchant of Berlin An Historical Novel by L. (Luise) Mühlbach
Milton, a chaster and more unerring master of the art than Shakespeare, reveals no such lovable personality.
From Style by Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh
Nor Cupid there less blood doth spill, But heads his shafts with chaster love, Not feather’d with a sparrow’s quill, But of a dove.
From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 by Isaac Disraeli
Not her own guardian angel eyes With chaster tenderness his care, Not purer her own wishes rise, Not holier her own sighs in prayer.
From A Little Book of Old Time Verse Old Fashioned Flowers by Various
For decades Bollywood produced the chastest of films: boy met girl, but there were no kisses, hips only thrust during dance numbers, and the audience knew that romance would be followed by marriage.
From Time Magazine Archive
A pretty maid of Bannalec, white coiffe and scarlet skirts a-flutter, called out with the broad freedom of the chastest of nations: “There is the lover I could pray for—if he can dance the farandole!”
From The Maids of Paradise by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
You were the most charming and the chastest ornament of it.
From The Grip of Desire by Hector France
‘The chastest poet and royalest, Vergilius Maro, that to the memory of man is known.’
From Helps to Latin Translation at Sight by Edmund Luce
Skilful artists thou employest, And in chastest beauty joyest, Forms most delicate, pure, and clear, Frost-caught star-beams, fallen sheer In the night, and woven here In jewel-fretted tapestries.
From The Ontario High School Reader by A.E. Marty
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.
