How to Use virginal in a Sentence

virginal

adjective
  • The land is still in its virginal state.
  • Only this time the tutu is no longer virginal white but mermaid green.
    — Rhonda Garelick, The Cut, 1 June 2018
  • Few seemed willing to forgive her for being a spoiled, non-virginal nymphet.
    — Stacy Schiff, The New Yorker, 5 Mar. 2021
  • The goal is to secure virginal brides rather than to seek new converts to Islam.
    — Fox News, 29 Dec. 2020
  • So, your hymen is not a good way to determine virginal status.
    — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, 4 Oct. 2018
  • What may surprise today’s audience is the lack of virginal white.
    — Alexandra Genova, Time, 23 June 2017
  • Men are gang members, and women are either virginal or spitfires.
    — Washington Post, 9 Dec. 2021
  • Cox’s Peggy is a dervish of dance energy wrapped up in a virginal package.
    — Robert W. Butler, kansascity.com, 3 May 2017
  • The character, in Zegler’s view, shouldn’t be so virginal and pure and, well, flat and one-note.
    — Hunter Harris, Town & Country, 25 Aug. 2021
  • Miss Lansbury endows Sibyl Vane, the songstress with virginal charm.
    — Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2022
  • That went double for the moon, whose virginal glow is nicely sanitizing in this context.
    — James Marcus, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2021
  • The virginal bobby-soxer Newton-John had been playing was now in pumps and skintight black pants.
    — Wesley Morris, New York Times, 9 Aug. 2022
  • Jane Birkin famously wore a virginal white crop top sans bra while on the arm of Serge Gainsbourg.
    — Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 5 July 2017
  • On the Faroe Islands, virginal women once had to throw a stone, a bone, and a clump of dirt at a crow for some reason.
    — Elaine Godfrey, The Atlantic, 31 Oct. 2017
  • Before having her first litter, a virginal rat doesn’t enjoy the presence of pesky rat babies in the slightest.
    — Dina Litovsky, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Apr. 2021
  • The third persona, the Blonde, is a symbol, the pure and virginal creature of fairy tales and religious parables.
    — Elaine Showalter, The New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2020
  • The expression emphasizes the paradox of being old and yet still virginal and unmarried.
    — Amy Froide, The Conversation, 2 Dec. 2019
  • Lydia’s castoff, to the mutual delight of the nervous bride-to-be and her virginal fiance, Dandu.
    — Washington Post, 3 May 2021
  • Gaiman created the virginal younger sister for American Gods.
    — Joanna Robinson, HWD, 14 May 2017
  • From there one, the idea of pure evil and the most ubiquitous representation of good, a virginal babysitter, a young girl with dreams of romance and goodness in her heart.
    — Jenelle Riley, Variety, 28 Aug. 2021
  • From the very first scene I was hypnotized by the unusual Earthy brown base with golden highlights, and the ultra-long, virginal waves.
    — Jenna Rosenstein, Harper's BAZAAR, 9 Oct. 2017
  • Two rich, diabolical step-siblings make a bet that involves sleeping with the new headmaster's virginal daughter.
    — Stacey Grant, Seventeen, 13 Jan. 2023
  • Robin Larsen directs this curious-sounding tale about a captive elephant and a virginal Sunday school teacher who takes a chance on love.
    — Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2019
  • Brides were expected, in most cultures at various points in history, to be virginal, pure and dedicated to their husbands.
    — Leah Dolan, CNN Money, 23 May 2026
  • By sticking our heads in the sand and saying Jefferson was this virginal God-like person who never did anything wrong, that’s just silly.
    — Farah Stockman, New York Times, 16 June 2018
  • Centered between the virginal chalice on the one hand and the voluptuous citrons on the other, the dark, bottomless, pucker invites what is sometimes known as the male gaze.
    — Jonathan Gold, Los Angeles Times, 18 July 2019
  • Then, it was considered essential that a royal bride should be a (literally) virginal youth, and not much thought was given to the age gap of thirteen years between bride and groom.
    — Daisy Goodwin, Time, 17 May 2018
  • The music ends, and here is Adriene, in virginal braids, sitting on a pillow in a T-shirt and leggings, petting her napping dog, Benji.
    — Sandra Tsing Loh, The Atlantic, 12 June 2020
  • Each statue the perfect epitome of silent, mothering, virginal womanhood that Ireland had come to worship.
    — Literary Hub, 8 May 2026
  • Julie Harris, as Abra, combines a young girl’s silliness with a mystic, almost breathless, virginal delicacy.
    — Jack Moffitt, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Mar. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'virginal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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