anchorite

[ ang-kuh-rahyt ]

noun

1. a person who has retired to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion; hermit.

anchorite

/ ˈæŋkəˌraɪt /

noun

1. a person who lives in seclusion, esp a religious recluse; hermit

Derived Forms

• ˈanchoress, noun:feminine

Other Words From

• an·cho·rit·ic [ang-k, uh, -, rit, -ik], adjective
• ancho·riti·cal·ly adverb
• an·cho·rit·ism [ang, -k, uh, -rahy-tiz-, uh, m], noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of anchorite¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English anc(h)orite, anachorite, ancorite, conflation of Middle English ancre (from Old English ancra, ancer ) and Old French anacorite or Late Latin anachōrīta, anachōrēta, from Late Greek anachōrētḗs, agent noun derivative of anachōreîn “to withdraw” + -tēs agent suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of anchorite¹

C15: from Medieval Latin anchorīta, from Late Latin anachōrēta, from Greek anakhōrētēs, from anakhōrein to retire, withdraw, from khōra a space

Example Sentences

Many writers are deskbound anchorites; Kurkov is a compulsively social animal with a deep bench of illustrious friends.

From New York Times

But Hardulph would not have been a hermit in the colloquial sense; he would have been an anchorite, meaning that he would have been anchored to the church and may have had disciples, Simons explained.

From Washington Post

We see Moore and her mother living together in Greenwich Village “like anchorites.”

From New York Times

They’ve just been walled in, closed off, “like those anchorites” — medieval ascetics — “who used to build themselves into the walls of churches and see insane, terrifying visions and write about them.”

From New York Times

In the 1970s, commercial plywood caught Judd’s eye and he used it in a suite of boxy sculptures that look like a cross between shipping containers and anchorite cells.

From New York Times

Related Words

• abbot
• friar
• priest