What does eremite mean?
An eremite is a person who withdraws from human society to live in solitude, particularly as an act of religious devotion — a recluse dedicated to prayer, fasting, and contemplation. The word is closely related to hermit, but while hermit has broadened to describe anyone who shuns company, eremite retains its formal and distinctly spiritual character. It is most often applied to figures such as the Desert Fathers of early Christianity, who retreated into the Egyptian and Syrian wildernesses in the third and fourth centuries to pursue holiness through solitude. In modern usage, eremite is rare and literary, lending an elevated or historical tone to writing about monasticism, asceticism, or extreme withdrawal from worldly life. Its adjective forms are eremitic and eremitical. For readers encountering the term, it signals not mere introversion but a deliberate, disciplined embrace of solitude as a path toward the divine.
nounA religious recluse; a person who withdraws from society to live a solitary life of prayer and contemplation, especially in a desert or wilderness.
- A Christian religious recluse who lives in solitude for prayer and contemplation.
- More broadly, any person who lives in deliberate isolation from society.
"The old monk became an eremite, dwelling alone in a cave above the valley for forty years."
"Saint Anthony the Great is remembered as the archetypal desert eremite of early Christianity."
"After retiring from public life, the writer lived like an eremite in a cottage on the moors."
Standard regular plural; used when referring to multiple recluses, such as the early Desert Fathers collectively.
"The desert was dotted with the cells of eremites seeking God in silence."
Every 'hermit' you know might more precisely be an eremite — the word descends directly from the Greek erēmos, meaning 'desert', because the earliest Christian recluses literally fled into the Egyptian desert to pray.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of eremite
Eremite comes from Late Latin eremita, borrowed from Greek erēmītēs, meaning 'person of the desert', which derives from erēmos, 'solitary' or 'desolate'. The word entered English via Old French around late Middle English times, alongside its doublet hermit, which came through the same route with sound changes. The adjective eremitic and noun eremitism share this Greek root.
Related word forms
How eremite is actually used
Eremite is a formal, literary word, far rarer than hermit. It carries strong connotations of religious devotion and ascetic discipline, so applying it to merely shy or solitary people can sound ironic or grandiose. It appears most often in historical, ecclesiastical, and literary contexts.
Easily confused with eremite
An eremite specifically denotes a religious recluse devoted to prayer or spiritual discipline, while hermit is the broader everyday term for anyone living in seclusion from society.