ˈchāst adjective
( usually -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, from Latin castus pure, chaste — more at caste
1.
a. : abstaining from sexual intercourse that is reprobated by religion or condemned by morality
chaste behavior
b. : abstaining from such intercourse and in addition from any willful acts or thoughts that are likely to lead to its occurrence
2.
a. : abstaining from all sexual relations
Galahad's chaste life
b. : clean , pure , stainless
chaste stars — Shakespeare
c. : free from lewdness, obscenity, indecency, suggestiveness, or offensiveness : modest , decent
his conversation is chaste — Ernest Dimnet
d. : free of connection or association with anything crass, sordid, impure, or debasing
the chaste and abstracted intellect of the scholar — Elinor Wylie
3.
a. archaic : restrained , subdued
her tastes were, however, too feminine and chaste ever to render her eccentric — E.G.Bulwer-Lytton
b. : lacking that which provides sensual pleasure : severely simple : austere , ascetic , plain
a chaste meal
c. : decorous and somewhat severe in design or expression : free of anything meretricious, florid, or tawdry : refined , simple
a chaste border of conventionalized flowers
Synonyms:
pure , modest , decent : chaste stresses absence of immorality or sexuality in acts or behavior and sometimes even in thoughts or suggestions, and connotes a complete avoidance of anything meretricious
all virtuous persons who hear this song whose lives are chaste and placid — Elinor Wylie
she … withdrew to the chaste darkness of her own room where she knelt before a plaster virgin — Louis Bromfield
pure indicates avoidance of immoral action and lustful thoughts and desires
it may have been that … he had never known any woman, that he had been pure as a saint — Louis Bromfield
as down she knelt for heaven's grace and boon … she seem'd a splendid angel … so pure a thing, so free from mortal taint — John Keats
modest stresses avoidance of anything brazen, bold, wanton, or suggestive in behavior, speech, or appearance
she had previously made a respectful virginlike curtsey to the gentleman, and her modest eyes gazed so perseveringly on the carpet that it was a wonder how she should have found an opportunity to see him — W.M.Thackeray
to suggest that it [the infidelity of Antony] had been largely Octavia's own fault in dressing in so modest a way and behaving with such decorum — Robert Graves
decent indicates accord with conventions of what is seemly or proper in behavior or language
sex must be treated from the first as natural, delightful, and decent — Bertrand Russell
after only a decent period of mourning, Mr. Murdock married Marie Antoinette O'Daniel — W.A.White
filthy beyond all powers of decent expression — Leslie Stephen