Word.ws English Dictionary

celibates

celibates is the plural of celibate.

Meaning of celibate

Noun (1)

celibate (uncountable)

  1. One who is not married, especially one who has taken a religious vow not to get married, usually because of being a member of a religious community.
    • Even during the ages that priestly marriage was permitted, celibates obtained a higher reputation for sanctity and virtue than married priests, who infinitely more than celibates were believed subject to infestation by demons.1893, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Woman, Church and State: A Historical Account of the Status of Woman Through the Christian Ages: with Reminiscences of the Matriarchate
    Synonyms:
    volcel, cel

Noun (2)

celibate (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) A celibate state; celibacy.
    • He […] preferreth holy Cœlibate before the eſtate of Marriage, […]1678, Jeremy Taylor, “The History of the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus: […]. The Third Part.”, in Antiquitates Christianæ: Or, the History of the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus: […], London: […]...
    Synonyms:
    cel

See all 5 meanings of celibate

Questions about celibates

What is celibates the plural of?
Celibates is the plural of celibate.

Words near celibates in the dictionary

  1. celibatarian
  2. celibatarians
  3. celibate
  4. celibated
  5. celibately
  6. celibates
  7. celibating
  8. celibatist
  9. celibatists
  10. celibatory
  11. Celik

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: celibates (page history and authors); celibate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “celibates.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/celibates. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.