immaculate
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪˈmækjʊlət/
ipa: /ɪˈmækjələt/
rhymes: -ækjʊlət
Forms: form: more immaculate
form: most immaculate
Etymology: From Late Middle English immaculat, immaculate (“blameless; flawless, spotless; specifically of the Virgin Mary: pure, undefiled”), borrowed from Latin immaculātus (“unstained”), from im- (negative prefix) + maculātus (“stained, spotted; defiled, polluted; (figurative) dishonoured”), the perfect passive participle of maculō (“to spot, stain; to defile, pollute; (figurative) to dishonour”), from macula (“a blemish, spot, stain; (figurative) blot on one’s character, fault”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *smh₂-tló-m (“wiping (?)”), from *smeh₂- (“to rub; to smear”). The word displaced Middle English unwemmed (“pure, untainted”). See also -ate (adjective-forming suffix).
Cognates
* Catalan immaculat
* Italian immacolato, immaculato (obsolete)
* Middle French immaculé (modern French immaculé)
* Portuguese imaculado
* Spanish inmaculado
Senses: examples: text: O loyall Father, of a treacherous Sonne, / Thou ſheere immaculate and ſiluer Fountaine, / From vvhence this ſtreame, through muddy paſſages, / Hath held his current, and defild himſelfe.
ref: 1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], signature I2, recto:
text: So in immaculate clothes, and Symetrie / Perfect as circles, vvith ſuch nicetie / As a young Preacher at his firſt time goes / To preach, he enters, […]
ref: p. 1597, J[ohn] Donne, “Satyre IIII”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 344:
text: So firſt to preach a vvhite-glov'd Chaplain goes, / VVith Band of Lily, and vvith Cheek of Roſe, / Svveeter than Sharon, in immaculate trim, / Neatneſs itſelf impertinent in him.
ref: 1733, “an Eminent Hand” [pseudonym; Alexander Pope], The Impertinent, or A Visit to the Court. A Satyr. […], London: […] John Wil[f]ord, […], →OCLC, page 15:
text: Every rustle of her silvery silk gown, every fold of the snowy kerchief on her neck, every plait of her immaculate cap, spoke a soul long retired from this world and its cares.
ref: 1856, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The Gordon Family”, in Dred; a Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp. […], volume I, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson and Company, →OCLC, page 52:
synonyms: word: clear
word: lily-white
word: spotless
word: stainless
word: unsullied
word: clean
word: clean as a whistle
word: immaculate
word: pristine
word: spick-and-span
word: spotless
word: squeaky clean
word: stainless
word: unsoiled
word: unsullied
antonyms: word: unimmaculate
word: clean
glosses: Having no blemish or stain; absolutely clean and tidy.
synonyms: flawless
impeccable
perfect
antonyms: unimmaculate
glosses: Containing no mistakes.
synonyms: flawless
impeccable
perfect
antonyms: unimmaculate
glosses: Containing no mistakes.
Of a book, manuscript, etc.: having no textual errors.
examples: text: Take not thy flight ſo ſoone immaculate ſpirit.
ref: c. 1624–1625 (date written), Philip Massinger, The Vnnaturall Combat. A Tragedie. […], London: […] E[dward] G[riffin] for Iohn Waterson, […], published 1639, →OCLC, Act V, scene ii, signature [K4], verso:
text: Were but my ſoul as pure / From other guilts as that, Heaven did not hold / One more immaculate.
ref: 1641 (first performance), [John Denham], The Sophy. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1667, →OCLC, Act V, page 86:
text: And this Life is pure and immaculate Love, and this Love is God, as he is communicable unto man, and is the ſole Life and Eſſence of Vertue truly ſo called; […]
ref: 1653, Henry More, “The Defence of the Threefold Cabbala. The Defence of the Moral Cabbala. Chapter III.”, in A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr Henry More […], London: […] James Flesher for William Morden, […], published 1662, →OCLC, page 177:
text: The VVorld's infectious; fevv bring back at Eve / Immaculate, the Manners of the Morn.
ref: 1743, [Edward Young], “Night the Fifth. The Relapse. […]”, in The Complaint. Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality. Night the Fifth, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 14:
text: Alas! vve have made a nevv faith; vve have exchanged piety for impiety; vve have betrayed the immaculate ſacrifice [of Jesus]; […]
ref: 1788, Edward Gibbon, chapter LXVII, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume VI, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 438:
text: That immaculate manliness we feel within ourselves, so far within us, that it remains intact though all the outer character seem gone; bleeds with keenest anguish at the undraped spectacle of a valor-ruined man.
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Knights and Squires”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 127:
synonyms: word: irreproachable
word: chaste
word: cherry
word: clean
word: flawless
word: halal
word: ideal
word: immaculate
word: kosher
word: natural
word: perfect
word: pristine
word: pure
word: simon-pure
word: unadulterated
word: uncontaminated
word: undefiled
word: unpolluted
word: unsullied
word: untainted
word: untouched
word: virgin
antonyms: word: maculate
word: unimmaculate
word: pure
word: raw
glosses: Free from sin; morally pure; sinless.
topics: Catholicism
Christianity
Roman-Catholicism
glosses: Of the Virgin Mary or her womb: pure, undefiled.
topics: biology
botany
entomology
natural-sciences
zoology
synonyms: self-coloured
spotless
unspotted
antonyms: maculate
maculated
spotted
glosses: Lacking blotches, spots, or other markings.
Derived terms: Immaculate Conception
immaculate concussion
immaculate disinflation
immaculately
immaculateness
immaculism
Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
unimmaculate
Related terms: word: macular
word: maculate
word: maculated
word: maculated fever
word: maculation
word: maculatory
word: macule
word: maculism