hermit

American  

[hur-mit] / ˈhɜr mɪt /

noun

1. a person who has withdrawn to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion.

   Synonyms:

   cenobite, anchorite, monastic, eremite

2. any person living in seclusion; recluse.

3. Zoology. an animal of solitary habits.

4. Ornithology. any of numerous hummingbirds of the genera Glaucis and Phaethornis, having curved bills and dull-colored rather than iridescent plumage.

5. a spiced molasses cookie often containing raisins or nuts.

6. Obsolete. a beadsman.

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hermit British  

/ ˈhɜːmɪt /

noun

1. one of the early Christian recluses

2. any person living in solitude

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Other Word Forms

• hermit-like adjective
• hermitic adjective
• hermitical adjective
• hermitically adverb
• hermitish adjective
• hermitlike adjective
• hermitry noun
• hermitship noun
• unhermitic adjective
• unhermitical adjective
• unhermitically adverb

Etymology

Origin of hermit

1175–1225; Middle English ermite, hermite, heremite < Old French < Late Latin erēmīta < Greek erēmītḗs living in a desert, equivalent to erḗm ( ia ) desert (derivative of erêmos desolate) + -ītēs -ite ¹

Example Sentences

Wilding, a shy man who lived alone, was known to his neighbors as a “recluse” and a “hermit.”

From Los Angeles Times

Much less familiar is Guglielmo of Malavalle, a twelfth century hermit venerated by the Augustinians for defeating a dragon using a simple wooden staff shaped like a pitchfork.

From Science Daily

And there's a deep-sea hermit crab, living not inside a shell, but a sea star the team can't immediately identify.

From Barron's

Suddenly the lines about needing a hermit in the woods as much as a preacher in the pulpit came so much more alive from the endless horizon atop a watchtower.

From Los Angeles Times

“I’m a little bit of a hermit, and just wanted some more trees and a little more space,” Nancherla says.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• recluse