monkery

American  

[muhng-kuh-ree] / ˈmʌŋ kə ri /

noun

Disparaging.

plural

monkeries

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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Etymology

Origin of monkery

First recorded in 1530–40; monk + -ery

Example Sentences

In the Twelfth Century a college was merely a monkery that took in boarders, and learning was acquired by absorption.

From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 13 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Lovers by Hubbard, Elbert

If you will take to "monkery," do it among our own fellows, who at least enjoy lives of ease and indolence.

From The Dodd Family Abroad, Vol. I by Lever, Charles James

And of such there is here enough to glut the gorge of all the monks in monkery, or strengthen for a forty days’ fast any brutallest unwashed theomaniac of the Thebaid. 

From A Study of Shakespeare by Gosse, Edmund

He hated monkery, and he satirized the system as openly as he dared,—this, however, not so much in the love of truth and freedom, as in pure fondness for exercising his wit.

From Classic French Course in English by Wilkinson, William Cleaver

Father Macedo, a Portuguese Jesuit, having written against Cardinal Noris, on the monkery of St. Austin, it was deemed necessary to silence both parties.

From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 by Disraeli, Isaac