monkery

American  

[muhng-kuh-ree] / ˈmʌŋ kə ri /

noun

Disparaging.

monkeries plural

1. the mode of life, behavior, etc., of monks; monastic life.

2. a monastery.

3. monkeries, the practices, beliefs, etc., of monks.

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monkery British  

/ ˈmʌŋkərɪ /

noun

1. monastic life or practices

2. a monastery or monks collectively

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• monkeries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of monkery

First recorded in 1530–40; monk + -ery

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

monkery monkeries

It is true, I was a pious monk, and if ever a monk could have gained heaven by his monkery I would have gained it.

From Life of Luther with several introductory and concluding chapters from general church history by Just, Gustav

So far as Luther opposed monkery and despotism, his sympathies were with him.

From A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon For the Use of Schools and Colleges by Lord, John

The clergy and monkery at Certaldo had never been cordial with Messer Giovanni, it being suspected that certain of his Novelle were modelled on originals in their orders.

From Imaginary Conversations and Poems A Selection by Landor, Walter Savage

Also, he was regarded as a thorn in the side of the monkery, since he refused to take it seriously.

From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 10 Little Journeys To The Homes Of Great Teachers by Hubbard, Elbert

Such are the writers whose ascetic spirit is still descending among us from the monkery of the deserts, adding poignancy to the very ridicule they would annihilate.

From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 2 by Disraeli, Isaac

These teachers commanded separation from society, isolation in the wilderness, the establishment of monkeries and the performance of self-appointed works.

From Epistle Sermons, Vol. III Trinity Sunday to Advent by Luther, Martin

Yet Diderot had far too much genius to be tempted into the exaggerations of more vulgar assailants of monkeries and nunneries.

From Diderot and the Encyclopædists Volume II. by Morley, John

What a rag-fair of extinct monkeries, high-piled here in the very shrine of our existence, fit to smite the generations with atrophy and beggarly paralysis,—as we see it do!

From Latter-Day Pamphlets by Carlyle, Thomas

Buddhist monkeries and nunneries are almost as common, and certainly more ancient than Roman Catholic monasteries, and they had very nearly the same numerous accessories in worship, which we are familiar with in papal countries.

From Ancient Faiths And Modern A Dissertation upon Worships, Legends and Divinities by Inman, Thomas

Broke violently in upon quiescent Austrian routine, on every side: monkeries, school-pedantries, trade-monopolies, serfages,—all things, military and civil, spiritual and temporal, he had resolved to make perfect in a minimum of time.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 21 by Carlyle, Thomas