celibacy
pronunciation
How to pronounce celibacy in British English:
UK ['selɪbəsɪ]
How to pronounce celibacy in American English:
US [ˈsɛləbəsi]
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- Noun:
- an unmarried status
- abstaining from sexual relations (as because of religious vows)
Word Origin
- celibacy (n.)
- 1660s, formed in English, with -cy + Latin caelibatus "state of being unmarried," from caelebs "unmarried," probably from PIE root *kaiwelo- "alone" + lib(h)s- "living."
Example
- 1. Celibacy is widely ignored in africa and latin america .
- 2. Some add celibacy to the charge list .
- 3. And nobody has shown a statistical link between celibacy and paedophilia .
- 4. The first was a history of celibacy ; the third will be a history of marriage .
- 5. Self-enforced celibacy , by contrast , is all but unknown among other animal species .