ascetic

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Adverb

CIDE DICTIONARY

ascetic, a. [Gr. , fr. to exercise, to practice gymnastics.].

 Extremely rigid in self-denial and devotions; austere; severe.  [1913 Webster]
"The stern ascetic rigor of the Temple discipline."  [1913 Webster]

ascetic, n. 

 In the early church, one who devoted himself to a solitary and contemplative life, characterized by devotion, extreme self-denial, and self-mortification; a hermit; a recluse; hence, one who practices extreme rigor and self-denial in religious things.  [1913 Webster]
"I am far from commending those ascetics that take up their quarters in deserts."  [1913 Webster]

Ascetic theology, the science which treats of the practice of the theological and moral virtues, and the counsels of perfection. Am. Cyc.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

ascetic, n. & adj.
--n. a person who practises severe self-discipline and abstains from all forms of pleasure, esp. for religious or spiritual reasons.
--adj. relating to or characteristic of ascetics or asceticism; abstaining from pleasure.

Derivative

ascetically adv. asceticism n.

Etymology

med.L asceticus or Gk asketikos f. asketes monk f. askeo exercise

THESAURUS

ascetic

Albigensian, Apostolic, Apostolici, Catharist, Diogenes, Encratic, Encratite, Franciscan, Hieronymian, Hieronymite, Lenten, Pythagorean, Pythagorist, Rechabite, Sabbatarian, Shaker, Spartan, Stoic, Timon of Athens, Trappist, Waldensian, abbacomes, abbot, abstainer, abstemious, abstinent, anchoress, anchorite, anchoritic, apologetic, astringent, atoning, austere, bald, banian, bare, beadsman, bedridden invalid, bhikshu, brother, caloyer, candid, celibate, cenobite, chaste, cleansing, cloistered monk, closet cynic, common, commonplace, compensational, compensatory, continent, conventual, conventual prior, dervish, desert fathers, desert saints, direct, disciplined, dry, dull, dwarfed, dwarfish, eremite, eremitic, exiguous, expiatory, fakir, flagellant, forbearing, frank, friar, frugal, fruitarian, grand prior, gymnosophist, hermit, hermitess, hieromonach, homebody, homely, homespun, hydropot, impoverished, invalid, isolationist, jejune, lay abbot, lay brother, lean, limited, loner, lustral, lustrational, lustrative, marabout, matter-of-fact, meager, mean, mendicant, miserly, monastic, monk, mortified, narrow, natural, neat, nephalist, nephalistic, niggardly, on the wagon, open, outcast, palmer, paltry, pariah, parsimonious, penitential, piacular, pilgrim, pillar saint, pillarist, plain, plain-speaking, plain-spoken, poor, prior, propitiatory, prosaic, prosing, prosy, puny, pure, purgative, purgatorial, purifying, puritan, puritanical, reclamatory, recluse, recompensing, redeeming, redemptive, redressing, religieux, religious, reparative, reparatory, repentant, repenting, restitutional, restitutive, restitutory, restrained, righting, rigoristic, rustic, sannyasi, satisfactional, scant, scanty, schooled, scrawny, scrimp, scrimpy, seclusionist, self-abasing, self-abnegating, self-denying, self-forgetful, selfless, severe, sexually abstinent, shut-in, simple, simple-speaking, skimp, skimpy, slender, slight, slim, small, sober, solitaire, solitary, solitudinarian, spare, sparing, squaring, stark, starvation, stay-at-home, stern, stingy, stinted, straightforward, straitened, stunted, stylite, subsistence, sworn off, teetotal, teetotaler, teetotalist, thin, trained, unadorned, unaffected, unimaginative, unnourishing, unnutritious, unpoetical, unvarnished, vegetarian, water-drinker, watered, watery, wedded to poverty, yogi, yogin

ROGET THESAURUS

ascetic

Asceticism

N asceticism, puritanism, sabbatarianism, cynicism, austerity, total abstinence, nephalism, mortification, maceration, sackcloth and ashes, flagellation, penance, fasting, martyrdom, ascetic, anchoret, anchorite, martyr, Heautontimorumenos, hermit, puritan, sabbatarian, cynic, sanyasi, yogi, ascetic, austere, puritanical, cynical, over-religious, acerbic, asceticism, puritanism, sabbatarianism, cynicism, austerity, total abstinence, nephalism, mortification, maceration, sackcloth and ashes, flagellation, penance, fasting, martyrdom, ascetic, anchoret, anchorite, martyr, Heautontimorumenos, hermit, puritan, sabbatarian, cynic, sanyasi, yogi, ascetic, austere, puritanical, cynical, over-religious, acerbic.