anchorite

American  

[ang-kuh-rahyt] / ˈæŋ kəˌraɪt /

noun

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

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anchorite British  

/ ˈæŋkəˌraɪt /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

• anchoress noun
• anchoritic adjective
• anchoritically adverb
• anchoritism noun

Etymology

Origin of anchorite

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

Example Sentences

Yet, it’s no spoiler to reveal that during her long weeks and months as an anchorite, Aleys found the means to slowly and secretly teach Marte, lowliest of the Beguines, how to read and write.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 4, 2026

She’d patterned the rooms after anchorite cells, bare stone and lines, so all you had to think about was the communion.

From Slate • Apr. 30, 2022

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 • Jul. 17, 2021

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 • Feb. 27, 2020

Sometimes I play chess with one of my colleagues, an anchorite like myself, who suffers from post-polio syndrome.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Related Words

• abbot
• friar
• priest