immaculate

English

Etymology

From Late Middle English immaculat, immaculate (“blameless; flawless, spotless; specifically of the Virgin Mary: pure, undefiled”), borrowed from Latin immaculātus (“unstained”) (whence Late Latin inmaculatus (“unstained; (by extension) free from sin, pure”)), from im- (variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)) + 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 *smeh₁- (“to rub; to smear”)). The word displaced Middle English unwemmed (“pure, untainted”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmækjʊlət/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmækjələt/
• Hyphenation: im‧ma‧cul‧ate

Adjective

immaculate (comparative more immaculate, superlative most immaculate)

1. Having no blemish or stain; absolutely clean and tidy.

   Synonyms: clear, lily-white, spotless, stainless, unsullied; see also Thesaurus:clean

   Antonyms: unimmaculate; see also Thesaurus:unclean

   • 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:

     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.

   • p. 1597, J[ohn] Donne, “Satyre IIII”, in Poems, with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: M F for Iohn Marriot, , published 1633, →OCLC, page 344:

     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, […]

   • 1733, “an Eminent Hand” [pseudonym; Alexander Pope], The Impertinent, or A Visit to the Court. A Satyr. , London: John Wilord, , →OCLC, page 15:

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

2. (figurative)
   1. Containing no mistakes.

      Synonyms: flawless, impeccable, perfect

      Antonym: unimmaculate

      1. (specifically) Of a book, manuscript, etc.: having no textual errors.
   2. (archaic) Free from sin; morally pure; sinless.

      Synonyms: irreproachable; see also Thesaurus:pure

      Antonyms: maculate, unimmaculate; see also Thesaurus:impure

      • c. 1624–1625 (date written), Philip Massinger, The Vnnaturall Combat. A Tragedie. , London: E G for Iohn Waterson, , published 1639, →OCLC, Act V, scene ii, signature , verso:

        Take not thy flight ſo ſoone immaculate ſpirit.

      • 1641 (first performance), [John Denham], The Sophy. , 2nd edition, London: J M for H Herringman, , published 1667, →OCLC, Act V, page 86:

        Were but my ſoul as pure / From other guilts as that, Heaven did not hold / One more immaculate.

      • 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:

        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; […]

      • 1743, [Edward Young], “Night the Fifth. The Relapse. ”, in The Complaint. Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality. Night the Fifth, London: R Dodsley , →OCLC, page 14:

        The VVorld's infectious; fevv bring back at Eve / Immaculate, the Manners of the Morn.

      • 1788, Edward Gibbon, chapter LXVII, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume VI, London: W Strahan; and T Cadell, , →OCLC, page 438:

        Alas! vve have made a nevv faith; vve have exchanged piety for impiety; vve have betrayed the immaculate ſacrifice [of Jesus]; […]

      • 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:

        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.

   4. (Roman Catholicism) Of the Virgin Mary or her womb: pure, undefiled.
3. (botany, zoology, especially entomology) Lacking blotches, spots, or other markings.

   Synonyms: self-coloured, spotless, unspotted

   Antonyms: maculate, maculated, spotted

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Notes

References

Latin

Participle

immaculāte

1. vocative masculine singular of immaculātus