Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Abstaining from sexual relations.
  • adjective Remaining unmarried, especially for religious reasons.
  • noun One who abstains from sexual relations.
  • noun One who remains unmarried, especially for religious reasons.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To lead a single life. Fortnightly Rev.
  • noun A single life; celibacy.
  • noun One who adheres to or practises celibacy; a bachelor, especially a confirmed bachelor.
  • Unmarried; single: as, a celibate life.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete Celibate state; celibacy.
  • noun One who is unmarried, esp. a bachelor, or one bound by vows not to marry.
  • adjective Unmarried; single.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Not married.
  • adjective by extension Abstaining from sexual relations and pleasures.
  • noun Person who is not married, especially one who has taken a religious vow not to get married, usually because of being a member of a religious community.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an unmarried person who has taken a religious vow of chastity
  • adjective abstaining from sexual intercourse

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin caelibātus, from caelebs, caelib-, unmarried.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin caelibatus, perfect passive participle of caelibare, from caelebs ("unmarried").

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