rustication

American  

[ruhs-ti-key-shuhn] / ˌrʌs tɪˈkeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. Also called rustic work.  Architecture. any of various forms of ashlar so dressed and tooled that the visible faces are raised above or otherwise contrasted with the horizontal and usually the vertical joints.

2. the act of a person or thing that rusticates.

---

Etymology

Origin of rustication

First recorded in 1615–25, rustication is from the Latin word rūsticātiōn- (stem of rūsticātiō ). See rusticate, -ion

Explanation

When you pack up your city apartment and move to the country, you can call it rustication — it's a term that can have positive or negative associations, depending on how excited you are about living in the boonies. The noun rustication is good for what your grandfather did when he retired to a rural town to become a gentleman farmer. You can also describe your grudging attendance at a summer camp deep in the Maine woods as your own rustication. Whether by choice or banishment, rustication is a move to the countryside. The Latin root is rusticus, "open land or country."

Example Sentences

He’s expected — and expects himself — to use his rustication as a chance to recharge, and then to step right back onto the relentless escalator of his career.

From New York Times • Jun. 28, 2022

It is there as rustication and entablature — there, too, on one of the city’s main churches, Santo Domingo de Guzmán.

From New York Times • Nov. 11, 2021

Although the rustication movement is well suited to China's goals, it has caused a number of acute problems.

From Time Magazine Archive

During the last of August His Majesty will hunt in Yorkshire, will spend September en famille at Balmoral Castle, famed Scotch rustication ground of "Dear Albert" and Victoria.

From Time Magazine Archive

When rustication was pronounced it was hoped that Landor would return to the college to honor it and himself by an earnest devotion to his studies.

From Stories of Authors, British and American by Chubb, Edwin Watts