ascetic

as·cet·ic

adj \ə-ˈse-tik, a-\

Definition of ASCETIC

1

: practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline

2

: austere in appearance, manner, or attitude

— ascetic noun

— as·cet·i·cal·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

— as·cet·i·cism \-ˈse-tə-ˌsi-zəm\ noun

Variants of ASCETIC

as·cet·ic also as·cet·i·cal \ə-ˈse-ti-kəl\

Examples of ASCETIC

1. an ascetic diet of rice and beans
2. Patterson's collection begins on the walls of the stairway to his basement. “That's where Cindy draws the line. That's probably a real good idea,” he says. Mattsson, ascetic for a bachelor, imposes the same rule on himself. LeBeau, who has never been married, is much less restrained. —Tom Harpole, Air & Space, December 1999/January 2000
3. By Hollywood standards, Calley's career path may seem enigmatic, but then, so is his personality. If Mark Canton, the previous Sony president, was the boastful, Armani-clad big spender, Calley is downright ascetic, a man who disdains Hollywood profligacy. —Peter Bart, GQ, August 1997
4. He converted to Catholicism and, after a long period of intense self-questioning, became a Trappist monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, which, at the time, was as ascetic and demanding as any monastery of the Middle Ages. —Julius Lester, Falling Pieces of the Broken Sky, 1990

Origin of ASCETIC

Greek askētikos, literally, laborious, from askētēs one that exercises, hermit, from askein to work, exercise

First Known Use: 1646

Rhymes with ASCETIC

aesthetic, athletic, balletic, bathetic, cometic, cosmetic, eidetic, emetic, frenetic, gametic, genetic, hermetic, limnetic, magnetic, mimetic, noetic, Ossetic, paretic, pathetic, phenetic, phonetic, phyletic, poetic, prophetic, prosthetic, pyretic, splenetic, syncretic, syndetic, synthetic, tonetic, Venetic