: a person who leads a secluded or solitary life
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Greta Garbo and Howard Hughes were two of the most famously reclusive celebrities of modern times. She had been a great international star, called the most beautiful woman in the world; he had been an aircraft manufacturer and film producer, with one of the greatest fortunes in the world. It seems that Garbo's reclusiveness resulted from her desire to leave her public with only the youthful image of her face. Hughes was terrified of germs, though that was the least of his problems.
Examples of recluse in a Sentence
Noun
My neighbor is a recluse—I only see him about once a year.
he was sick of cities and crowds, so he decided to go live by himself in the woods as a recluse
Recent Examples on the Web
Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 11 May 2026
In a post on X, the 23-year-old said a brown recluse, a spider commonly found in the south-central and midwestern United States, was the culprit for his injury.
—Fernando Cervantes Jr, USA Today, 7 May 2026
Advertisement While Pulisic is no recluse—he’ll go to an occasional nice dinner with friends—exhortations to step out more go mostly unheeded.
—Sean Gregory, Time, 7 May 2026
Pixels • One promising character disconnected from the plotting so far is Zach Galifianakis as Carl Bardolph, a client of JoAnne’s who made some untold fortune in the business, but has since turned into a bitter recluse.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 12 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for recluse
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Noun
In the aftermath, Mad's sister, Annabel, becomes a recluse, and Mad struggles to keep the family's bar afloat as the sisters become the center of damaging gossip.
—Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 11 May 2026
In a post on X, the 23-year-old said a brown recluse, a spider commonly found in the south-central and midwestern United States, was the culprit for his injury.
—Fernando Cervantes Jr, USA Today, 7 May 2026
Advertisement While Pulisic is no recluse—he’ll go to an occasional nice dinner with friends—exhortations to step out more go mostly unheeded.
—Sean Gregory, Time, 7 May 2026
Pixels • One promising character disconnected from the plotting so far is Zach Galifianakis as Carl Bardolph, a client of JoAnne’s who made some untold fortune in the business, but has since turned into a bitter recluse.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 12 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for recluse
Cite this Entry
“Recluse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recluse. Accessed 12 May. 2026.
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