Plural of celibate; people who abstain from marriage and sexual relations, often for religious reasons.
From Latin 'caelebs' (unmarried) + '-ate' suffix. Entered English in the 16th century to describe religious individuals committed to unmarried life.
The term 'celibate' originally was just an adjective meaning 'unmarried,' but it evolved to describe a moral or religious stance—the same word transformation happened with 'ascetic' and 'hermit'.
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