immaculate

adjective

im·​mac·​u·​late i-ˈma-kyə-lət 

1

: spotlessly clean

an immaculate kitchen

immaculate uniforms

2

: having or containing no flaw or error

an immaculate record of service

in immaculate detail

3

: having no stain or blemish : pure

an immaculate heart

4

: having no colored spots or marks

—used especially in botany and zoology

petals immaculate

immaculately adverb

immaculateness noun

… the immaculateness of scrubbed decks …

—William Sansom

Did you know?

You may already use the word immaculate flawlessly, but most of us have a spottier history with its antonymous counterpart, maculate, which means "marked with spots" or "impure." Both words can be traced back to macula, a Latin noun (plural maculae or maculas) that scientists still use for spots on the skin, on the wings of insects, and on the surface of celestial objects. Maculate has not marked as many pages as immaculate, but it appears occasionally, especially as an antithesis to immaculate. The pair is used, for example, by Clive James in a 2019 column in Prospect Magazine, in reference to Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey: “… the story sweeps along in immaculate iambic pentameter. In only one small aspect is the immaculateness maculate.”

Synonyms

• chaste
• clean
• decent
• G-rated
• modest
• pure
• vestal
• virgin
• virginal

Examples of immaculate in a Sentence

… they seemed as remote from metaphysics as their lunch bags and knapsacks. Yet weren't they all heading for those immaculate country snowfields to talk of God? —Cynthia Ozick, Atlantic, May 1997

… and added to this was the fact that this Soviet Army Colonel had a service record that was as immaculate as a field of freshly fallen snow … —Tom Clancy, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, (1988) 1989

I was expecting some giant to emerge, but in came a tiny, immaculate, white-haired man. —Anna Russell, I'm Not Making This Up, You Know, 1985

She had an immaculate record of service.

somehow managed to keep the white carpet immaculate

Recent Examples on the Web

The brand new, perfectly crisp notebooks beckoning with their greedy blank pages, the pencil points sharp as needles, the immaculate backpack begging for books—all of these talismans represented a feeling of possibility and transformation. —Christine Pride, SELF, 25 Sep. 2024

David Peterson, a revelation since his return from off-season hip surgery, opened the game by flirting with an immaculate inning before Jose Iglesias, whose promotion May 31 coincided with the Mets mounting their 61-36 surge, hit his first career leadoff homer. —Jerry Beach, Forbes, 21 Sep. 2024

The study found that the world's whitest sands grace Tulum Beach, an immaculate six-mile expanse in Mexico's Riviera Maya. —Taryn White, Travel + Leisure, 12 Sep. 2024

Nothing has quite the hold on the facial-spray space like rose waters immaculate reputation precedes it. —Audrey Noble, Vogue, 24 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English immaculat, from Latin immaculatus, from in- + maculatus stained — more at maculate

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

Kids Definition

immaculate

adjective

im·​mac·​u·​late im-ˈak-yə-lət 

1

: having no stain or blemish : pure

an immaculate record of service

2

: perfectly clean

immaculate linen

immaculately adverb

immaculateness noun