recluse

[rek-loos, ri-kloos, ri-kloos, rek-loos]

noun

1. a person who lives in seclusion or apart from society, often for religious meditation.

2. Also a religious voluntary immured in a cave, hut, or the like, or one remaining within a cell for life.

adjective

1. shut off or apart from the world; living in seclusion, often for religious reasons.

2. characterized by seclusion; solitary.

recluse

/ rɪˈkluːʒən, rɪˈkluːs /

noun

1. a person who lives in seclusion

2. a person who lives in solitude to devote himself to prayer and religious meditation; a hermit, anchorite, or anchoress

adjective

1. solitary; retiring

Other Word Forms

• nonreclusive adjective
• unrecluse adjective
• unreclusive adjective
• reclusion noun
• reclusive adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of recluse¹

1175–1225; Middle English < Old French reclus < Late Latin reclūsus, past participle of reclūdere to shut up, equivalent to re- re- + -clūd-, combining form of claudere to close + -tus past participle suffix, with dt > s

Word History and Origins

Origin of recluse¹

C13: from Old French reclus , from Late Latin reclūdere to shut away, from Latin _re- + claudere to close

Example Sentences

Born in Virginia, D'Angelo was something of a recluse and only periodically surfaced to release music, most of which was received favorably by fans and critics.

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He’s a bit of a recluse, but he plays by the rules and demands the same from Fito.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

She spent her teenage years looking after her five siblings and working in a chip shop at the weekends while her mother became a recluse.

Read more on BBC

“He is a recluse who cut off contact with our family and now lives in squalor,” she writes.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

We Americans love our literary losers, and who better to give us the latest version of a recluse with a heart of gold than Walter?

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• hermit