hermitage
noun
the habitation of a hermit.
hermitage
1
British
/ ˈhɜːmɪtɪdʒ /
noun
-
the abode of a hermit
-
any place where a person may live in seclusion; retreat
Hermitage
2
British
/ ˈhɜːmɪtɪdʒ /
noun
Hermitage
3
British
/ ˈhɜːmɪtɪdʒ /
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
Unless somebody at Google HQ has just made a fix, Google Maps will tell you incorrectly that the hermitage and lodge are beyond the road closure.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025
He continues to be struck by the emotional effect the island has on those who visit the monastery and hermitage.
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
He had thought, of course, of going back to Aravis and Bree and Hwin at the hermitage, but he couldn't because by now he had not the least idea of the direction.
From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis
Once owned by Catherine the Great, “Diana” was acquired by Gulbenkian, along with many important works, in 1930, when the Soviets sold pieces from the Hermitage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
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
They are now regular visitors to the grand Hermitage Museum, housed in the former palace of the Tsars.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
“I thought we can make money if this place goes from terrible to bad,” said Bill Browder, an Anglo-American financier whose firm Hermitage Capital Management ran the biggest foreign investment fund in Russia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
George, Charles, and at least one other enslaved man named John Fulton were trusted enough to serve as couriers, and they occasionally traveled alone back to the Hermitage with messages from Jackson.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
They established hermitages and monasteries in traditionally pagan sites and occasionally suffered persecution by the local inhabitants.
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
Reclusion had a long religious history in China, with Buddhist and Daoist monks and priests establishing hermitages, houses of contemplation, in remote sites.
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
The solitudes of Upper Egypt, where numerous monasteries and hermitages had been planted, seem at this time to have been his chief shelter.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 7 "Arundel, Thomas" to "Athens" by Various
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.
