Asceticism

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Asceticism \As*cet"i*cism\, n.
     The condition, practice, or mode of life, of ascetics.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:



  asceticism
       n 1: the doctrine that through renunciation of worldly pleasures
            it is possible to achieve a high spiritual or
            intellectual state
       2: the trait of great self-denial (especially refraining from
          worldly pleasures) [syn: {austerity}, {nonindulgence}]
       3: rigorous self-denial and active self-restraint [syn: {ascesis}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  51 Moby Thesaurus words for "asceticism":
     Day of Atonement, Encratism, Friday, Lenten fare, Pythagoreanism,
     Pythagorism, Rechabitism, Shakerism, Spartan fare, Stoicism,
     Yom Kippur, abstainment, abstemiousness, abstention, abstinence,
     avoidance, banyan day, celibacy, chastity, cold purgatorial fires,
     continence, eschewal, fast, fasting, fish day, flagellation,
     fruitarianism, gymnosophy, hair shirt, lustration, maceration,
     mortification, nephalism, penance, penitence, penitential act,
     penitential exercise, plain living, purgation, purgatory,
     refraining, refrainment, repentance, sackcloth and ashes,
     sexual abstinence, simple diet, spare diet, teetotalism,
     the pledge, total abstinence, vegetarianism