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

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

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

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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.

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

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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?

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Family members, former school friends and neighbours have told Swedish media he had become a recluse in recent years and may have suffered with psychological issues.

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Related Words

• hermit