Word Study
chaste
CIDE DICTIONARY
chaste, a. [F. chaste, from L. castus pure, chaste; cf. Gr. kaqaro`s pure, Skr. to purify.].
- Pure from unlawful sexual intercourse; virtuous; continent. Shak. [1913 Webster]"Whose bed is undefiled and chaste pronounced." [1913 Webster]
- Pure in thought and act; innocent; free from lewdness and obscenity, or indecency in act or speech; modest; as, a chaste mind; chaste eyes. [1913 Webster]
- Pure in design and expression; correct; free from barbarisms or vulgarisms; refined; simple; as, a chaste style in composition or art. [1913 Webster]"That great model of chaste, lofty, and eloquence, the Book of Common Prayer." [1913 Webster]
- Unmarried. Chaucer.
Syn. -- Undefiled; pure; virtuous; continent; immaculate; spotless.
OXFORD DICTIONARY
chaste, adj.
1 abstaining from extramarital, or from all, sexual intercourse.
2 (of behaviour, speech, etc.) pure, virtuous, decent.
3 (of artistic etc. style) simple, unadorned.
1 abstaining from extramarital, or from all, sexual intercourse.
2 (of behaviour, speech, etc.) pure, virtuous, decent.
3 (of artistic etc. style) simple, unadorned.
Idiom
chaste-tree an ornamental shrub, Vitex agnus-castus, with blue or white flowers.
Derivative
chastely adv. chasteness n.
Etymology
ME f. OF f. L castus
THESAURUS
chaste
Apostolic, Attic, Ciceronian, Encratic, Lenten, Pythagorean, Rechabite, Shaker, Spartan, Stoic, abase, absolute, abstemious, abstinent, aesthetic, afflict, artistic, ascetic, austere, bare, basic, becoming, beyond all praise, blotless, castigate, celibate, chasten, chastise, choice, classic, classical, clean, cleanly, clear, common, commonplace, continent, correct, decent, decorous, defectless, direct, discipline, easy, elegant, elementary, essential, ethical, everyday, excellent, faultless, finished, flawless, fruitarian, fundamental, garden, garden-variety, good, graceful, gracile, guiltless, homely, homespun, homogeneous, household, humble, humiliate, ideal, immaculate, impeccable, in good taste, indefectible, indefective, indivisible, infallible, innocent, irreducible, irreproachable, just right, limpid, lucid, maidenly, matter-of-fact, mere, modest, monolithic, moral, natural, neat, nephalistic, nondescript, of a piece, of choice, of quality, on the wagon, ordinary, peerless, pellucid, perfect, perspicuous, plain, pleasing, polished, primal, primary, proper, prosaic, prosy, pure, pure and simple, pure in heart, purehearted, quiet, refined, restrained, righteous, round, seemly, severe, sexually abstinent, sexually innocent, simon-pure, simple, single, sinless, snowy, spare, spotless, stainless, stark, straightforward, subdued, sworn off, taintless, tasteful, teetotal, terse, trim, try, unadorned, unadulterated, unaffected, unblemished, unblotted, uncluttered, uncontaminated, uncorrupt, undecorated, undefiled, understated, undifferenced, undifferentiated, unembellished, unfaultable, uniform, unlabored, unmixed, unobtrusive, unsoiled, unspotted, unstained, unsullied, untainted, untarnished, vegetarian, virgin, virginal, virtuous, well-chosen, white, wholesome, workaday, workdayROGET THESAURUS
chaste
Plainness
N plainness, simplicity, severity, plain terms, plain English, Saxon English, household words, plain, simple, unornamented, unadorned, unvarnished, homely, homespun, neat, severe, chaste, pure, Saxon, commonplace, matter-of- fact, natural, prosaic, dry, unvaried, monotonous, in plain terms, in plain words, in plain English, in plain common parlance, point-blank.Elegance
N elegance, purity, grace, ease, gracefulness, readiness, concinnity, euphony, numerosity, Atticism, classicalism, classicism, well rounded periods, well turned periods, flowing periods, the right word in the right place, antithesis, purist, elegant, polished, classical, Attic, correct, Ciceronian, artistic, chaste, pure, Saxon, academical, graceful, easy, readable, fluent, flowing, tripping, unaffected, natural, unlabored, mellifluous, euphonious, euphemism, euphemistic, numerose, rhythmical, felicitous, happy, neat, well put, neatly put, well expressed, neatly expressed.Purity
N purity, decency, decorum, delicacy, continence, chastity, honesty, virtue, modesty, shame, pudicity, pucelage, virginity, vestal, virgin, Joseph, Hippolytus, Lucretia, Diana, prude, pure, undefiled, modest, delicate, decent, decorous, virginibus puerisque, simon-pure, chaste, continent, virtuous, honest, Platonic, virgin, unsullied, cherry, as chaste as unsunn'd snow, a soul as white as heaven, 'tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity, to the pure all things are pure.Simplicity
N simplicity, plainness, homeliness, undress, chastity, simple, plain, homely, homespun, ordinary, household, unaffected, ingenuous, sincere (artless), free from affectation, free from ornament, simplex munditiis, sans facon, en deshabille, chaste, inornate, severe, unadorned, bare, unornamented, undecked, ungarnished, unarranged, untrimmed, unvarnished, bald, flat, dull, veritatis simplex oratio est.Taste
N taste, good taste, refined taste, cultivated taste, delicacy, refinement, fine feeling, gust, gusto, tact, finesse, nicety, to prepon, polish, elegance, grace, judgment, discernment, dilettantism, dilettanteism, virtu, fine art, culture, cultivation, aesthetics, man of taste, connoisseur, judge, critic, conoscente, virtuoso, amateur, dilettante, Aristarchus, Corinthian, arbiter elegantiarum, stagirite, euphemist, caviare to the general, in good taste, cute, tasteful, tasty, unaffected, pure, chaste, classical, attic, cultivated, refined, dainty, esthetic, aesthetic, artistic, elegant, euphemistic, to one's taste, to one's mind, after one's fancy, comme il faut, tire a quatre epingles, elegantly, nihil tetigit quod non ornavit, chacun a son gout, oculi pictura tenentur aures cantibus, taste, flavor, gust, gusto, savor, gout, relish, sapor, sapidity, twang, smack, smatch, aftertaste, tang, tasting, degustation, gustation, palate, tongue, tooth, stomach, sapid, saporific, gustable, gustatory, gustful, strong, gamy, palatable.Symmetry
N symmetry, shapeliness, finish, beauty, proportion, eurythmy, uniformity, parallelism, bilateral symmetry, trilateral symmetry, multilateral symmetry, centrality, arborescence, branching, ramification, arbor vitae, symmetrical, shapely, well set, finished, beautiful, classic, chaste, severe, regular, uniform, balanced, equal, parallel, coextensive, arborescent, arboriform, dendriform, dendroid, branching, ramous, ramose, filiciform, filicoid, subarborescent, papilionaceous, fuji-shaped, fujigata.For further exploring for "chaste" in Webster Dictionary Online