chaste

adjective

ˈchāst 

chaster; chastest

1

: innocent of unlawful sexual intercourse

2

: celibate

Monks lead a chaste life.

3

: pure in thought and act : modest

was sincerely trying to be chaste

4

a

: severely simple in design or execution : austere

chaste classicism

the pure, chaste lines of ancient Greek buildings

b

: clean, spotless

chastely adverb

chasteness

ˈchās(t)-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• pure
• immaculate
• modest
• clean

Choose the Right Synonym for chaste

chaste, pure, modest, decent mean free from all taint of what is lewd or salacious.

chaste primarily implies a refraining from acts or even thoughts or desires that are not virginal or not sanctioned by marriage vows.

they maintained chaste relations

pure differs from chaste in implying innocence and absence of temptation rather than control of one's impulses and actions.

the pure of heart

modest and decent apply especially to deportment and dress as outward signs of inward chastity or purity.

preferred more modest swimsuits

decent people didn't go to such movies

Examples of chaste in a Sentence

a chaste kiss on the cheek

as one would expect, the minister's small talk is always chaste, even though he likes a joke as much as the next person

Recent Examples on the Web

There she was scolded by the nutritionally chaste household for drinking coffee and wearing leather gloves. —James Marcus, New Yorker, 2 June 2025

In Zone 6, chaste tree may die back to the ground in winter but resprouts in the following growing season. —Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 10 June 2025

By bedtime, Jeremiah and Huda are already making out under the covers and Belle-A has negotiated one chaste spoon with Nic, but no one else seems ready to get close. —Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 4 June 2025

In Zone 6, chaste tree will die back to the ground in the winter and vigorously regrow in spring to a 5 or 6-foot shrub. —Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 28 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French chaste, caste (also continental Old French), going back to Latin castus "free from, untouched (by the thing specified), free from vice, holy, pure, not sexually promiscuous," of uncertain origin

Note: The association of chaste with the moral precepts of the Christian church and hence the word's Latin source have most likely contributed to the preservation of the s by French speakers. — Latin castus has been taken as a variant verbal adjective of careō, carēre "to be devoid of, lack, be free from" (transitive or with an ablative complement), for which the grammarian Priscian gives the verbal adjectives caritus and cassus. Ernout and Meillet (Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine) take castus as originally a religious term, "in conformity with rules or rites" ("qui se conforme aux règles ou aux rites"), and hence link it with Sanskrit śiṣṭá- "commanded, instructed" (from śā́sti "punishes, controls, commands, instructs"), with other senses secondary, by association with carēre. This is questionable, however, as the meaning "free from, pure" goes back to Plautus and seems primary. Ernout and Meillet regard carēre as without an etymology. Another hypothesis, taken up by J. Pokorny (Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch), sees both castus and carēre as descended from an Indo-European verbal base *ḱes- "cut" (see castrate entry 1); the assumption is that the original sense of carēre was "to be cut off from," which developed into "to be without, lack." This is not convincing as a semantic hypothesis; moreover, the vocalism a would require an undesirable supposition such as *ḱəs-h₁i̯e-, with an anaptyctic vowel (schwa secundum) and laryngeal. Compare castigate.

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for chaste

• based
• baste
• braced
• cased
• chased
• faced
• graced
• haste
• laced
• mayst
• paced
• paste

Kids Definition

chaste

adjective

ˈchāst 

1

: pure in thought and act : modest

2

: simple or plain in design

a chaste meal

chastely adverb

chasteness

ˈchās(t)-nəs 

noun