ascetic: Meaning and Definition of

as•cet•ic

Pronunciation: (u-set'ik), [key]
— n.
  1. a person who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practices extreme self-denial or self-mortification for religious reasons.
  2. a person who leads an austerely simple life, esp. one who abstains from the normal pleasures of life or denies himself or herself material satisfaction.
  3. (in the early Christian church) a monk; hermit.
—adj.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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