Definition of chastenext

Synonym Chooser

How is the word chaste distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of chaste are decent, modest, and pure. While all these words 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

How are the words modest and decent related as synonyms of chaste?

Both 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

How do pure and chaste relate to one another?

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

the pure of heart

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of chaste 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 Our Lady was chaste, willingly, willfully passive, untainted by the grottiness of ordinary life. Lamorna Ash, The Dial, 6 May 2025 Some medieval and Renaissance artists, for example, portrayed Mary breast-feeding the infant Jesus at a chaste distance, such that the milk spurts of its own accord into his mouth. S. C. Cornell, The New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2025 For many traditionalists, effective enforcement of this teaching would mean cracking down on homosexuality among the clergy, including gay clergy who are celibate and chaste. Massimo Faggioli, Foreign Affairs, 11 Oct. 2018 See All Example Sentences for chaste
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chaste
Adjective
  • About 10 minutes into the party, pure silence blanketed the room.
    Sofia Zarran, Miami Herald, 7 Mar. 2026
  • Young is pure New York, having grown up at Sleepy Hollow when his father was the head pro.
    Dallas Morning News, Dallas Morning News, 7 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • The train passes through several pristine natural environments, including the Hudson River, the Adirondack foothills, and Lake Champlain.
    Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 8 Mar. 2026
  • Renowned paleoanthropologist Ronald Clarke identified four tiny bones in the University of the Witwatersrand’s museum collection and went on to discover Little Foot’s nearly pristine fossil in the 1990s in the Sterkfontein Caves northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 7 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Three matches into the campaign, San Diego is undefeated and defensively immaculate.
    Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Mar. 2026
  • Go Vertical For Evans, maintaining an immaculate home is all about the details.
    Quincy Bulin, Southern Living, 8 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • For every stay booked, Nômade donates $1 to Tulum Sostenible, an organization that aims to help protect the ecosystem, clean trash from the streets and ocean, and promote waste reduction.
    Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Mar. 2026
  • As my colleague Iris Kwok explains, that’s due to the state’s higher taxes and stricter requirements for cleaner, more expensive gas that pollutes.
    Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 12 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Later, the victims’ ashes were interred in a modest columbarium that the priest had built in a Catholic cemetery.
    Sheila Coronel, The Atlantic, 13 Mar. 2026
  • The sixty-year-old Radić is known for understated structures ranging from the modest (a bus stop, an artist’s studio) to the major (performing art spaces, a winery).
    News Desk, Artforum, 13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Still, every few minutes, a treasure hunter finds an unsullied remnant and places it in a tote bag or basket for safe keeping.
    Lois K. Solomon, Sun Sentinel, 27 Feb. 2026
  • With almost 13 million acres of the world’s most biodiverse rain forest, rich with jaguars, hummingbirds, and 2,000 butterfly species (take that, Costa Rica), plus some 1,800 miles of unsullied coastline, this country is poised for a tourism boom.
    John Bowe, Travel + Leisure, 1 Feb. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Chaste.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chaste. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.

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