noun
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the abode of a hermit
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any place where a person may live in seclusion; retreat
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hermitage
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French; see hermit, eremite, -age
Explanation
Your summer cabin deep in the woods where you go to think about how funny life is sometimes? If you want to sound fancy, it could be called a hermitage, a dwelling removed from civilization. The noun hermitage has origins in the French word hermite, meaning “hermit,” a person who lives alone, far from society. Hermitage can describe the place where a hermit lives, or a dwelling occupied by an isolated religious group that prefers solitude. But the word is likely to be used more broadly to describe a secluded or remote dwelling, a place of solitude, where you won’t run into a neighbor while mowing the lawn in the backyard.
Vocabulary lists containing hermitage
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The manuscript opens with the life of Giovanni of Florence, who built the Augustinian hermitage of Santa Lucia in Larniano with help from local farmers.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 2, 2026
An L.A. artist whose work I want in every room of my home: My decor is very simple and minimal because I like my home to feel like a hermitage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2023
The south peak of Sceilg Mhichíl is 218m high and was used as a hermitage by monks, with the 183m-high lower peak containing the main monastic site.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2022
“Seven Steeples” is an account of hermitage, of Bell and Sigh, a young couple hiding in a dilapidated, wind-struck house on the Irish coast.
From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2022
It was like a forgotten hermitage — the cave hidden beneath the growth, the strange fertility goddess statue of Our Ladybird with her tattered Miss Miss sash in place.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
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Even at the New Camaldoli Hermitage, a Benedictine monastery above Lucia, the road’s reopening and coming summer season have made a difference.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
It said the Russian national was the head of the archaeology department at the Hermitage - but did not name him publicly.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
They are now regular visitors to the grand Hermitage Museum, housed in the former palace of the Tsars.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
In 1892, the Finnish Art Society sent her to St. Petersburg, Russia, to paint copies of works in the Hermitage and then, in 1894, to Vienna and Florence to copy old masters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 3, 2026
A large group of people, perhaps forty to as many as a hundred, from Jackson’s Hermitage plantation and several nearby farms had gathered for a celebration.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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These ascetics attracted followers, and as a result monasteries and hermitages flourished in less hospitable areas.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
Lizz Pickard of Colorado is staying at one of the hermitages at Solas Bride this week, the latest of several visits.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 1, 2023
These served as hermitages for certain high-minded urban refugees and as vacation properties for others.
From New York Times ● Oct. 7, 2021
His companions were genuine lay brothers, able to lead him through the marshes and waterways to isolated hermitages and priories, where he would be able to plan his next moves.
From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2020
Then follow eremites in their hermitages, rajahs in their palaces, chiefs in their chariots, armies of elephants and men, seas of blood, gorgeous pomps, gigantic flowers, marvels and enchantments.
From Historia Amoris: A History of Love, Ancient and Modern by Edgar Saltus
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.