virgin
noun
a person who has never had sexual intercourse.
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virgin
American
[vur-jin]
/ ˈvɜr dʒɪn /
noun
-
virgins
plural
-
a person who has never had sexual intercourse.
-
an unmarried girl or woman.
-
Ecclesiastical. an unmarried, religious woman, especially a saint.
-
the Virgin, Mary, the mother of Christ.
-
Informal. any person who is uninitiated, uninformed, or the like.
He's still a virgin as far as hard work is concerned.
-
a female animal that has never copulated.
-
an unfertilized insect.
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Astronomy, Astrology. Virgin, the constellation or sign of Virgo.
adjective
-
being a virgin.
a virgin martyr.
-
of, relating to, or characteristic of a virgin.
virgin modesty.
-
virgin snow.
- Synonyms:
- chaste
- Antonyms:
- defiled
-
the senator's virgin speech.
-
without admixture, alloy, or modification.
virgin gold.
- Synonyms:
- unadulterated, unalloyed
- Antonyms:
- impure
-
not previously exploited, cultivated, tapped, or used: virgin wool.
virgin timberlands;
virgin wool.
-
without experience of; not previously exposed to.
a mind virgin to such sorrows.
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Informal. being a mixed drink resembling a specific cocktail but made without any alcoholic ingredient.
a virgin piña colada.
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Zoology. not fertilized.
-
(of a metal) made directly from ore by smelting, rather than from scrap.
-
noting the oil obtained, as from olives, by the first pressing without the application of heat.
virgin
1
British
/ ˈvɜːdʒɪn /
noun
-
a person, esp a woman, who has never had sexual intercourse
-
an unmarried woman who has taken a religious vow of chastity in order to dedicate herself totally to God
-
any female animal that has never mated
-
a female insect that produces offspring by parthenogenesis
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a person who is new to or inexperienced in a specified field
a political virgin
adjective
-
of, relating to, resembling, suitable for, or characteristic of a virgin or virgins; chaste
-
pure and natural, uncorrupted, unsullied, or untouched
virgin purity
-
not yet cultivated, explored, exploited, etc, by man
virgin territories
-
being the first or happening for the first time
-
(of vegetable oils) obtained directly by the first pressing of fruits, leaves, or seeds of plants without applying heat
-
(of a metal) made from an ore rather than from scrap
-
occurring naturally in a pure and uncombined form
virgin silver
-
physics (of a neutron) not having experienced a collision
Virgin
2
British
/ ˈvɜːdʒɪn /
noun
-
See Virgin Mary
-
a statue or other artistic representation of the Virgin Mary
Virgin
3
British
/ ˈvɜːdʒɪn /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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”
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
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:
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
Were the plant to stop producing virgin steel, the UK would be the only member of the G7 group of leading economies without the ability to make it.
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
Also, there are still several ships at sea carrying inventory from before the war, meaning cheap virgin supplies are still making their way to processors.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
His face was as still and white as virgin snow and his hands were trembling.
From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl
Whitesides was the first chief executive of Virgin Galactic, which employed hundreds of people in Antelope Valley.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
One showed the Virgin Mary and was engraved with words from a traditional Catholic prayer in Polish.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 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
In October, Infiniweb, an online gaming company registered in the British Virgin Islands, challenged the Justice Department’s $225 million seizure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
She crossed her hands over her bosomless chest like the Virgin Mary.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
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
"She apparently bathed in the blood of virgins to maintain her youth," Liz said.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2023
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
They made satin tufted shrouds: white ones for dead virgins, pale lavender for the young married, purple for the middle-aged and black for the old.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
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.
