Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Monasticism.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The principle of living in the manner of monks; the system or course of life pursued by monks and nuns; primarily, the practice of living alone in religious retirement from the world; religious seclusion; secondarily, the corporate life of religious communities under vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience to a superior. See monk.
  • noun A monastic characteristic or peculiarity; also, such characteristics collectively.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The system and influences of a monastic life; monasticism.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun monasticism

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Medieval Latin monachismus, from Late Greek monakhismos, from monakhos, monk; see monk.]

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