CELIBACY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does celibacy mean? 

• CELIBACY (noun)
  The noun CELIBACY has 2 senses:

1. an unmarried status

2. abstaining from sexual relations (as because of religious vows)

  Familiarity information: CELIBACY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CELIBACY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An unmarried status

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("celibacy" is a kind of...):

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Abstaining from sexual relations (as because of religious vows)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

celibacy; chastity; sexual abstention

Hypernyms ("celibacy" is a kind of...):

abstinence (act or practice of refraining from indulging an appetite)

Domain category:

faith; religion; religious belief (a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny)

 Context examples 

Never mind, Harriet, I shall not be a poor old maid; and it is poverty only which makes celibacy contemptible to a generous public!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Johnson's celebrated judgment as to matrimony and celibacy, and say, that though Mansfield Park might have some pains, Portsmouth could have no pleasures.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

This is a way of life which reminds me of the period when I was myself in a state of celibacy, and Mrs. Micawber had not yet been solicited to plight her faith at the Hymeneal altar.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)