immaculate

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. adjective completely neat and clean
  2. adjective free from stain or blemish
  3. adjective without fault or error

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

In classic literature

Synonyms

speckless, spick-and-span, spic-and-span, spic, spick, spotless

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