virgin

[ vur-jin ]
See synonyms for virgin on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person who has never had sexual intercourse.

  2. an unmarried girl or woman.

  1. Ecclesiastical. an unmarried, religious woman, especially a saint.

  2. the Virgin, Mary, the mother of Christ.

  3. Informal. any person who is uninitiated, uninformed, or the like: He's still a virgin as far as hard work is concerned.

  4. a female animal that has never copulated.

  5. an unfertilized insect.

  6. Virgin, Astronomy, Astrology. the constellation or sign of Virgo.

adjective
  1. being a virgin: a virgin martyr.

  2. of, relating to, or characteristic of a virgin: virgin modesty.

  1. pure; unsullied; undefiled: virgin snow.

  2. first: the senator's virgin speech.

  3. without admixture, alloy, or modification: virgin gold.

  4. not previously exploited, cultivated, tapped, or used: virgin timberlands;virgin wool.

  5. without experience of; not previously exposed to: a mind virgin to such sorrows.

  6. Informal. being a mixed drink resembling a specific cocktail but made without any alcoholic ingredient: a virgin piña colada.

  7. Zoology. not fertilized.

  8. (of a metal) made directly from ore by smelting, rather than from scrap.

  9. noting the oil obtained, as from olives, by the first pressing without the application of heat.

Origin of virgin

1
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English virgine, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Latin virgin-, stem of virgō “maiden, virgin”

Other words for virgin

2 maid, maiden
11 chaste, unpolluted
13 unalloyed, unadulterated
14 new; pristine, untouched, unexploited, unspoiled, untainted
See synonyms for virgin on Thesaurus.com

Opposites for virgin

11 defiled
13 adulterated, alloyed, contaminated, impure
See antonyms for virgin on Thesaurus.com

Other words from virgin

  • un·vir·gin, adjective

Words Nearby virgin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use virgin in a sentence

  • The Authorised Version has: “And as a mother shall she meet him, and receive him as a wife married of a virgin.”

    Solomon and Solomonic Literature | Moncure Daniel Conway
  • I was thinking of any thing but the virgin, or the window, or the light; I was thinking of my companion—so fair, and so devout.

  • She fixed her imploring eyes on the virgin's face and on the saints; but all seemed to her to wear a forbidding look.

    Ramona | Helen Hunt Jackson
  • Were they to be driven out,—driven out this very day, when the virgin had only just now seemed to promise her help and protection?

    Ramona | Helen Hunt Jackson
  • The print of steel-rimmed hoofs showed in the soft loam as plainly as a moccasin-track in virgin snow.

    Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for virgin (1 of 3)

virgin

/ (ˈvɜːdʒɪn) /


noun
  1. a person, esp a woman, who has never had sexual intercourse

  2. an unmarried woman who has taken a religious vow of chastity in order to dedicate herself totally to God

  1. any female animal that has never mated

  2. a female insect that produces offspring by parthenogenesis

  3. a person who is new to or inexperienced in a specified field: a political virgin

adjective(usually prenominal)
  1. of, relating to, resembling, suitable for, or characteristic of a virgin or virgins; chaste

  2. pure and natural, uncorrupted, unsullied, or untouched: virgin purity

  1. not yet cultivated, explored, exploited, etc, by man: virgin territories

  2. being the first or happening for the first time

  3. (of vegetable oils) obtained directly by the first pressing of fruits, leaves, or seeds of plants without applying heat

  4. (of a metal) made from an ore rather than from scrap

  5. occurring naturally in a pure and uncombined form: virgin silver

  6. physics (of a neutron) not having experienced a collision

Origin of virgin

1
C13: from Old French virgine, from Latin virgō virgin

British Dictionary definitions for Virgin (2 of 3)

Virgin1

/ (ˈvɜːdʒɪn) /


noun
  1. the Virgin See Virgin Mary

  2. a statue or other artistic representation of the Virgin Mary

British Dictionary definitions for Virgin (3 of 3)

Virgin2

/ (ˈvɜːdʒɪn) /


noun
  1. the Virgin the constellation Virgo, the sixth sign of the zodiac

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012