Chastity, in many religious and cultural contexts, is a virtue concerning the state of purity of the mind and body. The term is most often associated with refraining from sexual intimacy, especially outside of marriage. Chastity is often taken to be synonymous with virginity or abstention from all sexual activity; however, some consider sexually active married couples to be chaste if they have relations only with each other.
Due to the prohibitions of sexual intimacy outside of marriage in Abrahamic religions deriving from the Ten Commandments and Mosaic law, the term has become closely associated with premarital sexual abstinence in Western culture; however, in the context of religion, the term remains applicable to persons in all states, single or married, clerical or lay, and has implications beyond sexual temperance.
Chastity is one of the Seven holy virtues of Catholic teaching, opposing the deadly sin of lust.