recluse

English

Etymology

From Old French reclus, past participle of reclure, from Latin reclūdere (“to disclose, to open”), from re- + claudō (“close”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈkluːs/, /ˈɹɛkluːs/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -uːs

Adjective

recluse (comparative more recluse, superlative most recluse) (archaic)

1. Sequestered; secluded, isolated.

   a recluse monk or hermit

   • 1667, J[ohn] Evelyn, Publick Employment and an Active Life, with Its Appanages, such as Fame, Command, Riches, Conversation, &c. Preferred to Solitude: […], London: […] J. M. for H[enry] Herringman […], →OCLC, page 6:

     Hermits themſelves are not recluſe enough to ſeclude that ſubtile ſpirit, Vanity: […]

   • 1708, [John Philips], “(please specify the page)”, in Cyder. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     In meditation deep, recluse / From human converse.

2. Hidden, secret.

Synonyms

• reclusive

Derived terms

• reclusely
• recluseness

Translations

sequestered; secluded, isolated — see reclusive

Noun

recluse (plural recluses)

1. A person who lives in self-imposed isolation or seclusion from the world, especially for religious purposes; a hermit.

   Synonyms: anchorite, eremite, hermit

   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xv:

     The recluse in the fable kept a cat to keep off the rats, and then a cow to feed the cat with milk, and a man to keep the cow and so on. My ambitions also grew like the family of the recluse.

   • 2025 July 16, Daniel Dale, “Fact check: Trump tells fictional story about his uncle and the Unabomber”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 18 July 2025:

     First, the president’s uncle died in 1985. Kaczynski was publicly revealed as the Unabomber more than a decade later, in 1996, when he was captured; before that, he had lived as a recluse in the Montana wilderness.

2. (obsolete) The place where a recluse dwells; a place of isolation or seclusion.
   • 1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC:

     that day of appearance taken out of the recluse and committed to safe custody

3. (US) Ellipsis of recluse spider.

• See also Thesaurus:recluse

Derived terms

• brown recluse
• nonrecluse
• recluse spider
• reclusion
• reclusive
• Texas recluse

Translations

a person who lives in self-imposed isolation or seclusion from the world, especially for religious purposes; a hermit

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: حبيس m (ḥabīs)

• Bulgarian: отшелник (bg) m (otšelnik)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 隐士 (zh) (yǐnshì), 遁世者

• Czech: poustevník (cs) m, samotář m
• Dutch: kluizenaar (nl) m or f
• Finnish: erakko (fi)
• French: reclus (fr) m, recluse (fr) f
• German: (religious) Einsiedler (de) m, Eremit (de) m, (metaphorical) Sonderling (de) m, Eigenbrötler (de) m, zurückgezogen lebender Mensch m
• Greek: ερημίτης (el) m (erimítis), αναχωρητής (el) m (anachoritís), (metaphorical) μονόχνωτος (el) m (monóchnotos)

  Ancient Greek: μονότροπος m (monótropos)

• Hungarian: remete (hu)
• Irish: ancaire m, aonarán m
• Macedonian: пу́стиник m (pústinik), о́тшелник m (ótšelnik)
• Māori: moke, heremita (Refers to a religious recluse)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: eremitt m

• Old English: ānsetla m
• Portuguese: recluso (pt) m
• Russian: отше́льник (ru) m (otšélʹnik), затво́рник (ru) m (zatvórnik), сыч (ru) m (syč)
• Scottish Gaelic: aonaran m
• Spanish: ermitaño (es) m, solitario (es) m, recluso (es) m, reclusado m
• Telugu: తపస్వి (te) (tapasvi), తపస్విని (te) (tapasvini)
• Turkish: münzevi (tr)
• Ukrainian: самі́тник m (samítnyk), відлю́дник m (vidljúdnyk), затво́рник m (zatvórnyk), затві́рник m (zatvírnyk)

Verb

recluse (third-person singular simple present recluses, present participle reclusing, simple past and past participle reclused)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To shut; to seclude.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.klyz/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Homophone: recluses

Adjective

recluse

1. feminine singular of reclus

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /reˈklu.ze/
• Rhymes: -uze
• Hyphenation: re‧clù‧se

Etymology 1

Adjective

recluse

1. feminine plural of recluso

Participle

recluse f pl

1. feminine plural of recluso

Etymology 2

Noun

recluse f

1. plural of reclusa

Etymology 3

Verb

recluse

1. third-person singular past historic of recludere

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [rɛˈkɫuː.sɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [reˈkluː.s̬e]

Participle

reclūse

1. vocative masculine singular of reclūsus