VIRGINAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does virginal mean? 

• VIRGINAL (noun)
  The noun VIRGINAL has 1 sense:

1. a legless rectangular harpsichord; played (usually by women) in the 16th and 17th centuries

  Familiarity information: VIRGINAL used as a noun is very rare.

• VIRGINAL (adjective)
  The adjective VIRGINAL has 3 senses:

1. characteristic of a virgin or virginity

2. untouched or undefiled

3. in a state of sexual virginity

  Familiarity information: VIRGINAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VIRGINAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A legless rectangular harpsichord; played (usually by women) in the 16th and 17th centuries

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

pair of virginals; virginal

Hypernyms ("virginal" is a kind of...):

cembalo; harpsichord (a clavier with strings that are plucked by plectra mounted on pivots)

• VIRGINAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characteristic of a virgin or virginity

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

virginal white dresses

Pertainym:

virginity (the condition or quality of being a virgin)

Derivation:

virgin (a person who has never had sex)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Untouched or undefiled

Context example:

nor is there anything more virginal than the shimmer of young foliage

Similar:

pure (free of extraneous elements of any kind)

Sense 3

Meaning:

In a state of sexual virginity

Synonyms:

pure; vestal; virgin; virginal; virtuous

Context example:

men have decreed that their women must be pure and virginal

Similar:

chaste (morally pure (especially not having experienced sexual intercourse))

Derivation:

virgin (a person who has never had sex)

 Context examples 

He was smiling to himself as he looked up into her virginal face, so innocent, so penetratingly innocent, that its purity seemed always to enter into him, driving out of him all dross and bathing him in some ethereal effulgence that was as cool and soft and velvety as starshine.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)