virgin

Pluralvirgins

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A person who has never had sexual intercourse, or sometimes never taken part in any sexual activity at all; less often, an animal that has not yet mated.

   He remained a virgin until he married at twenty-nine.

   The breeder kept the young mare, still a virgin, away from the stallions until spring.

   UsageOften in still a virgin and remain a virgin. The matching phrase for the first time is lose your virginity.

   Note

   In ordinary use it turns on intercourse alone, so a person can remain a virgin while having other sexual experience, though some speakers use it more strictly for someone with no sexual experience at all.

2. 2
   never had sexadjective

   Never having had sexual intercourse; chaste.

   Church tradition holds that Mary remained virgin all her life.

   In the novel, a shy virgin hero spends half the book working up the courage to ask his neighbor out.

   UsageAs an adjective it can follow a verb with no a: remained virgin, still virgin, where the noun needs still a virgin.

   Similarchaste

   Note

   Milton sets it before a noun of quality in Paradise Lost, 'virgin Modestie'. It is normally an either-or word with no degrees, so Hubert Monteilhet's 'even more virgin than his mother' bends the rule for effect. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • John Milton uses virgin to modify Modestie in Paradise Lost. gutenberg.org
   • The phrase even more virgin than his mother occurs in Hubert Monteilhet's writing. en.wiktionary.org
3. 3
   nouncountable

   A person, typically a woman and often a consecrated virgin, who has taken a vow of virginity or died defending it, especially one honored as a saint.

   The bishop received three women into the order of consecrated virgins.

   The church calendar keeps her feast as that of a virgin and martyr.

   Note

   In the Church's calendar it works as a title, set beside a saint's name the way bishop or martyr is: Prisca is kept as virgin and martyr, Hilary as bishop and confessor. Catholic lists class St. Agnes and St. Thérèse of Lisieux this way. It also names an organized way of life, from the early Church's order of virgins to women consecrated as virgins today. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • Prisca is commemorated as virgin and martyr. roman-martyrology.brandt.id.au
   • Hilary is commemorated as bishop and confessor. roman-martyrology.brandt.id.au
   • Catholic calendars classify Agnes as a virgin. usccb.org
   • Catholic calendars classify Thérèse of Lisieux as a virgin. usccb.org
   • The early Church had an institutional Order of Virgins. vatican.va
   • Women continue to be consecrated in the Order of Virgins. vatican.va
4. 4
   olive oiladjective

   Of olive oil, extracted by mechanical means in a way that leaves the oil itself unaltered.

   Drizzle the salad with a good extra virgin olive oil just before serving.

   Virgin olive oil keeps the fruity taste of the olives better than refined oil does.

   UsageMost often in extra virgin olive oil and virgin olive oil.

   Oppositerefined

   Note

   On a label this is a grade, not a metaphor: the oil comes from the fruit by mechanical or other physical means alone and is left unaltered. Extra virgin names a stricter grade above it, which is why Cheryl Forberg, in Cooking with Quinoa For Dummies (2012), calls oil that is 'more virgin than regular virgin' a real head-scratcher.

5. 5
   adjective

   In its original state; not yet cultivated, explored, used, or disturbed, especially by people.

   Loggers have cleared most of the region's virgin forest over the last century.

   Settlers from the east claimed vast stretches of virgin land along the river.

   UsageTypical pairings: virgin forest, virgin land, virgin prairie, and for materials virgin clay or virgin wool.

   Similarpristine, untouched, unspoiled, primeval

   Oppositecultivated, developed

   Note

   Whose measure counts is the catch here: land can be called virgin even when people of another civilization have lived on or worked it, so the word judges newness from the speaker's side. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • Land can be called virgin despite earlier occupation or management by another civilization; the description can reflect the speaker's perspective. pdf.wri.org
6. 6
   first-timernouncolloquialcountable

   Someone who has never used or experienced a particular thing.

   As a camping virgin, she had no idea how to put up a tent.

   The tutorial is built for console virgins who have never held a controller.

   UsageUsually after the thing that is new to someone: a camping virgin, a sushi virgin.

   Similarnovice, beginner, newcomer, first-timer

   Oppositeveteran, expert

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