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Definition
abstaining from (i.e., never having) sexual intercourseor:
an unmarried person who has taken a religious vow of chastity
- The priests are celibate.
celibate = having taken a religious vow of chastity (to not have sexual relations)
- That church accepts gays and lesbians, but says they should remain celibate.
- Unlike priests, Protestant ministers do not practice celibacy.
- Now I knew about celibacy.Barbara Kingsolver -- The Bean Trees
- No one wanted to become stepfather to this child, which is why she had chosen to spend her life entirely celibate.Laura Esquivel -- Like Water for Chocolate
- ...she'd sort of come to accept celibacy as a permanent way of life.Nicholas Sparks -- The Guardian
- I am a celibate, madam.Oscar Wilde -- The Importance of Being Earnest
- Why do you think priests are celibate?Mark Helprin -- A Soldier of the Great War
- He broke his sacred vow of celibacy!Dan Brown -- Angels & Demons
- He was a knight of the Kingsguard, sworn to celibacy.George R.R. Martin -- A Dance With Dragons
- The person who saved me from celibacy and cirrhosis wasGeorge Winokur.Russell Baker -- Growing Up
- Trying to explain how good they are to someone who has never had one is like telling a celibate priest about young love.Rick Bragg -- All Over but the Shoutin'
- Celibacy was a haven, silence a shield.Toni Morrison -- The Bluest Eye
- As a matter of fact, they were the only celibate rabbits in the—J.D. Salinger -- Franny and Zooey
- He spoke to Abra of the necessity for abstinence and decided that he would live a life of celibacy.John Steinbeck -- East of Eden
- One obvious expression of this is the claim that celibacy is "higher" than marriage.George Orwell -- Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool
- Has it not preached in the place of these, charity and poverty, celibacy and mortification of the flesh, monastic life and Mother Church?Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels -- The Communist Manifesto
- A self-imposed celibacy.Alice Sebold -- Lucky
- His stern measures as Director were given an odd legitimacy by his personal life, the rigor of his insistent celibacy.Don DeLillo -- Underworld
- They preferred themselves to suffer the misery of celibacy, rather than risk the other person.D.H. Lawrence -- Sons and Lovers
celibacy = abstaining from sexual intercourse
celibate = never having sexual intercourse
celibacy = never having sexual intercourse
celibate = someone who abstains from sexual intercourse