Definition of Ascetic

1. Noun. Someone who practices self denial as a spiritual discipline.

Exact synonyms: Abstainer
Generic synonyms: Religious Person
Specialized synonyms: Puritan, Stylite
Derivative terms: Abstain, Ascetical, Ascetical

2. Adjective. Pertaining to or characteristic of an ascetic or the practice of rigorous self-discipline. "Ascetic practices"
Exact synonyms: Ascetical

3. Adjective. Practicing great self-denial. "A spartan existence"
Exact synonyms: Ascetical, Austere, Spartan
Similar to: Abstemious
Derivative terms: Austerity

Definition of Ascetic

1. a. Extremely rigid in self-denial and devotions; austere; severe.

2. n. In the early church, one who devoted himself to a solitary and contemplative life, characterized by devotion, extreme self-denial, and self-mortification; a hermit; a recluse; hence, one who practices extreme rigor and self-denial in religious things.

Definition of Ascetic

1. Adjective. Of or relating to ascetics; characterized by rigorous self-denial or self-discipline; austere; abstinent; involving a withholding of physical pleasure. ¹

2. Noun. One who is devoted to the practice of self-denial, either through seclusion or stringent abstinence. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Ascetic

1. one who practices extreme self-denial for religious reasons [n -S]

Medical Definition of Ascetic

1. In the early church, one who devoted himself to a solitary and contemplative life, characterised by devotion, extreme self-denial, and self-mortification; a hermit; a recluse; hence, one who practices extreme rigor and self-denial in religious things. "I am far from commending those ascetics that take up their quarters in deserts." (Norris) Ascetic theology, the science which treats of the practice of the theological and moral virtues, and the counsels of perfection. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Ascetic

ascerbates
ascerbating
ascertain
ascertainable
ascertainableness
ascertainably
ascertained
ascertainer
ascertainers
ascertaining
ascertainment
ascertainments
ascertains
asceses
ascesis
ascetic (current term)
ascetical
ascetically
asceticism
asceticisms
ascetick
ascetics
ascham
aschamalmite
aschams
aschelminth
aschematic
asci
ascian
ascians

Literary usage of Ascetic

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Buddhist Legends by Buddhaghoṣa (1921)
"A Naked ascetic seeks to prevent the wife of a certain householder from ... The Naked ascetic discovers where the boy is going, and tells him to give the ..."

2. The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages by Henry Osborn Taylor (1911)
"... and peopled the desert with anchorites and monks.1 Monasticism was asceticism; it had also motives which were not ascetic. The original meaning of s, ..."

3. The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages by Henry Osborn Taylor (1901)
"... and peopled the desert with anchorites and monks.1 Monasticism was asceticism; it had also motives which were not ascetic. The original meaning of O-IS, ..."

4. The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages by Henry Osborn Taylor (1911)
"... and peopled the desert with anchorites and monks.1 Monasticism was asceticism; it had also motives which were not ascetic. The original meaning of S, ..."

5. The Life and Stories of the Jaina Savior, Pārçvanātha by Aristophanes, Bhāvadevasūri, Richard Thomas Elliott, William Joseph Myles Starkie (1919)
"... at the end of six months a certain rogue in the garb of an ascetic,15 having been caught with money on his person, was brought before the minister. ..."

6. General History of the Christian Religion and Church by August Neander (1854)
"isting germs of all tendencies of life attained to a more settled and definite mode of growth, that the freer form of the ascetic life shaped ib- self into ..."

7. History of the Christian Church by Wilhelm Ernst Möller (1893)
"SPIRITUAL life having been augmented on all sides, and having at the same time become more open in individual cases, personal piety of an ascetic and ..."

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