immaculate

adjectiveattested in dialogue

United Kingdom//ɪˈmækjʊlət//
United States//ɪˈmæk.jʊ.lət//
United States//ᵻˈmæk.jə.lət//

Having no blemish or stain; absolutely clean and tidy.

adjective

1
Having no blemish or stain; absolutely clean and tidy.
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.
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, […]
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.
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
figurativeContaining no mistakes; free from fault.
3
figurativeContaining no mistakes; free from fault. Of a book, manuscript, etc.: having no textual errors.
4
archaicFree from sin; morally pure; sinless.
Take not thy flight ſo ſoone immaculate ſpirit.
Were but my ſoul as pure / From other guilts as that, Heaven did not hold / One more immaculate.
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; […]
The VVorld's infectious; fevv bring back at Eve / Immaculate, the Manners of the Morn.
5
figurativeOf the Virgin Mary or her womb: pure, undefiled.
6
Lacking blotches, spots, or other markings.

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). By surface analysis, im- + macule + -ate. Cognates * Catalan immaculat * Italian immacolato, immaculato (obsolete) * Middle French immaculé (modern French immaculé) * Portuguese imaculado * Spanish inmaculado

Forms

comparative: more immaculate
superlative: most immaculate

imitate · To follow as a model or a pattern; to make a copy,…imitating · An instance of imitation.imitation · The act of imitating.

immaculate · Having no blemish or stain; absolutely clean and tidy.

immature · Not fully formed or developed; not grown.immediate · Happening right away, instantly, with no delay.immediately · In an immediate manner; instantly or without delay.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.