Definition of hermitage in US English:

noun

• 1The dwelling of a hermit, especially when small and remote.

  Example sentences

  • ‘I am no otherworldly saint who leads a beautiful life of self-sacrifice and prayer in a secluded hermitage.’
  • ‘Erc taught him seafaring as well, for he had been a sea-bishop, taking the host to the outlying rocky hermitages, and knew the watery desert better than most.’
  • ‘They chased one to the hermitage of Eskdaleside, near Whitby, where the hermit protected the exhausted boar and refused to hand it over.’
  • ‘That extraordinary complex of shrines, churches, chapels and hermitages, hewn from the rock at Lalibela, were designed as an African mirror to Jerusalem.’
  • ‘In 1424 Jobard was still tenant, at the same rent, of what was described as a hermitage or chapel with garden.’
  • ‘Nhat Hanh keeps an image of Jesus next to the Buddha on the altar in his hermitage in France where, in a place called Plum Village, he maintains a meditation center.’
  • ‘He died alone in the solitude of the Sahara Desert in his hermitage, as a quiet witness to Christ.’
  • ‘After seven years, he retires to a hermitage, and when he dies the grail, lance and dish go with him.’
  • ‘The most interesting tidbit about the saintly doctors Cosma and Damian is that there's a hermitage devoted to them where the church is famous for its phallic architecture.’
  • ‘This was a wonderful opportunity to visit the hermitage, view its splendid church and library and pray and reflect in the calm peace of a place close to god and nature with wonderful guidance and inspiration from the Monks themselves.’
  • ‘Three months after his full ordination, he took the unusual step of going into a mountain hermitage on Mt. Hiei for an extended solitary retreat.’
  • ‘We live like the ancient Irish hermits, in separate hermitages, welcome retreatants, and go on the road periodically to give parish missions and retreats.’
  • ‘His Christian connection still strong, Steele would go on frequent meditation retreats at a Catholic hermitage in Big Sur, and, for a time, even considered joining the order.’
  • ‘Chapters are organized by major Franciscan currents: life in poverty; care of the lepers; the role of hermitages; the theology of the cross; and love for God's creation.’
  • ‘The tent in the woods was his hermitage for that winter.’
  • ‘The loss of St. Thomas shone in the hermitage of his new home: Pontoise.’
  • ‘There he built a small hermitage on Mount Chogye-san which he expanded to accommodate his growing community and it became known as Kilsang-sa and eventually Songgwang-sa.’
  • ‘In the course of her research Colegate, who is evidently well-travelled and well-read, has wandered both locally and exotically, fanning out from her own garden in Wiltshire where she restored an ancient hermitage.’
  • ‘The award recognized the challenges involved in the building project and its sympathetic approach to the hermitage, which provides a place for the hermit monks, both male and female to live a life of solitude.’
  • ‘On returning to Assisi, St. Francis now sought refuge at San Damiano, a quiet hermitage just below Assisi's walls.’

  Synonyms

  retreat, refuge, haven, sanctuary, sanctum, asylum, hideaway, hideout, hiding place, shelter

  View synonyms

• 2the Hermitage /ˌermiˈtäZH/A major art museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, containing among its collections those begun by Catherine the Great.

• 3the Hermitage /ˈhərmitij/An estate, the home of Andrew Jackson, in central Tennessee, northeast of Nashville.