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Definition of "asceticism" []

  • The principles and practices of an ascetic; extreme self-denial and austerity. (noun)
  • The doctrine that the ascetic life releases the soul from bondage to the body and permits union with the divine. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "asceticism" in a sentence
  • "The word asceticism comes from the Greek askesis which means practice, bodily exercise, and more especially, atheletic training."
  • "But it stifles desire only for a greater ultimate good; it rejects that needless repression of a part of the self which we call asceticism, and an undue subordination of self to others."
  • "Mrs Browning complained to her husband of what she terms the asceticism of Easter Day, the second part of his volume of 1850; his reply was that it stated “one side of the question.”"