a person or thing that must not be touched or interfered with.
a picture representing Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection.
Also noli-me-tangere. the touch-me-not.
a warning against interfering or against touching a person or thing
a work of art depicting Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene after His Resurrection
another name for touch-me-not
a cancerous ulcer affecting soft tissue and bone
< Latin: do not touch me (Jesus' words to Mary Magdalene)
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For now, they’re effects that we don’t understand well enough in part because of the four decades that they were the noli me tangere of research chemicals.
From Forbes ● Aug. 4, 2015
Mass industrialised society developed, in part, by inculcating us with rigid taboos - not only "noli me tangere", but also "don't talk to me, jostle me, or even acknowledge my physical presence".
From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2015
That noli me tangere pose barely masked the inner Waugh: a self-lacerating loner who for a time, Stannard asserts, was certifiably schizophrenic.
From Time Magazine Archive
The parts of the bodies rarely connect well, and have noli me tangere written all over them.
From Time Magazine Archive
Her bow was very gracious, and said much; but "noli me tangere" was part of its eloquence.
From The Bertrams by Trollope, Anthony
He hath, moreover, a John Bull-like air in his broad and burly shape, his smooth and unscaly superficies and the noli-me-tangere character of his dorsal fin.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 097, January, 1876 by Various
Milton's attitude must be distinguished from patrician pride, or the noli-me-tangere of social exclusiveness.
From Milton by Pattison, Mark
I. noli-me-tangere grows wild in Britain, but is not native.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 3 Atrebates to Bedlis by Various
I believe she would have spoken to her if she had been alone; but Miss Maitland and Fanny Dover had, both of them, a trick of putting on noli-me-tangere faces among strangers.
From A Woman-Hater by Reade, Charles
True, she had her lovely little serene, holy, noli-me-tangere air; but I thought that would pass.
From A House-Party Don Gesualdo and A Rainy June by Ouida
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.
