recluse
pronunciation
How to pronounce recluse in British English:
UK [rɪˈkluːs]
How to pronounce recluse in American English:
US [ˈrekluːs]
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- Noun:
- one who lives in solitude
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- Adjective:
- withdrawn from society; seeking solitude
Word Origin
- recluse
- recluse: [13] A recluse is etymologically a person who is ‘shut up’. The word was borrowed from reclus, the past participle of Old French reclure ‘shut up’. This was descended from Latin reclūdere, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and claudere ‘shut’ (source of English close) which originally, paradoxically, meant ‘open’ – the notion being ‘reversing the process of closing’. ‘Shut up’ emerged in the post-classical period.=> close
- recluse (n.)
- c. 1200, "person shut up from the world for purposes of religious meditation," from Old French reclus (fem. recluse) "hermit, recluse," also "confinement, prison; convent, monastery," noun use of reclus (adj.) "shut up," from Late Latin reclusus, past participle of recludere "to shut up, enclose" (but in classical Latin "to throw open"), from Latin re-, intensive prefix, + claudere "to shut" (see close (v.)).
Example
- 1. Mr holmes is not a weirdo or a recluse .
- 2. Like a recluse with a house stuffed with unread newspapers and magazines , apple is sitting on $ 98 billion in cash and investments .
- 3. Rowling is not a recluse : she read at the opening ceremony of the london olympics ; she was harvard 's commencement speaker in 2008 ; she appeared in a television documentary about her family tree .
- 4. The old recluse above referred to , the traveler found living in a hutalone in the mountains .
- 5. Could an email recluse like neal stephenson just cowboy up by agreeing to a monthly chat session or the occasional visit to a fan forum ?