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Glite Dictionary
toga virilis

toga virilis

9.9
A white robe a Roman young man wore when he became an adult and a citizen
  • noun
  • /ˈtoʊɡə vɪˈrɪlɪs/
  • Literature
translation icon : toga virilis
  • When he turned sixteen, Marcus was presented with the toga virilis during a special ceremony.

Examples

  • The toga virilis symbolized a Roman youth's transition to adulthood and full citizenship.

  • He wore his toga virilis!

  • Historians often mention the toga virilis in accounts of ancient Roman rites of passage.

  • The young man donned his toga virilis with pride.

  • The toga virilis symbolizes a young man's transition to adulthood in ancient Rome.

  • During the ceremony, he proudly donned the toga virilis to signify his new status as a citizen.

  • In the Roman tradition, the toga virilis was worn by boys on their coming-of-age day.

Synonyms

toga
vstoga virilis
22 8.4

A loose cloth worn over the body by men in ancient Rome

is the special robe worn at a young man's coming of age to mark citizenship

Surface Forms

toga virilis singular
toga virilis plural

Morphology

toga + virilis

While 'toga' denotes a Roman garment and 'virilis' (from Latin) literally means 'manly' or 'of manhood', understanding the full sense requires cultural knowledge of a Roman coming-of-age ceremony; 'virilis' is not an English word and is missing from the provided dictionary entry. Because the meaning is compositionally related to its parts but depends on a rare/Latin adjective and cultural background, the expression is not fully transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The phrase toga virilis comes from ancient Rome and combines toga, meaning a robe, and virilis, meaning 'manly'. Young men put on this plain robe in a public ceremony to show they had reached 'manhood' and were full 'citizens', so the phrase came to mean 'coming of age'.