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Glite Dictionary
monkish

monkish

1 8.7
Being simple and strict in life like a monk
  • adjective
  • /ˈmʌŋkɪʃ/
translation icon : monástico
  • It's also a little bit monkish, which is great because monks are wise, and some of them make scotch.

And, and there is, I mean, there is this kind of monkish belief in him.

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Examples

  • Moderation, yes; monkish abstinence and abnegation, no.

    Academic text (2000)

  • The atmosphere is one of hushed, almost monkish engagement, like the reading room of a great library.

  • So I want to talk about that because he really did live a, a monkish life in the classic sense.

  • And, and there is, I mean, there is this kind of monkish belief in him.

    Chris Williamson

  • The furniture was simple, square, monkish.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • But I was close to despair, and this feeling, along with his monkish robes and affable manner, overcame any instinct of caution.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • By 1794, however, he lived alone and monkish in a small house in Baltimore, and by 1804 he was buried in an unmarked grave in a Virginia pasture.

    Academic text (2001)

  • To walk into the main gallery was to encounter a meditative environment that seemed austere and monkish.

  • By his own admission, McCarroll is short-tempered, a man happiest living a private, monkish life, a man better with children than adults.

Synonyms

monastic
vsmonkish
11 7.9

Relating to life in a monastery with simple rules and little contact with others

focuses more on personal austerity and self-denial than on communal rules or institution
monklike
vsmonkish
7.4

A person who lives simply and quietly with little social contact

is a general trait of austerity and self-denial rather than a specific life form
monastical
vsmonkish
  • Archaic
9.9

A quiet, simple religious life with prayer and few possessions

emphasises personal austerity and self-denial rather than institutional communal practice
hermitlike
vsmonkish
7.5

Prefers to live alone and avoids other people

shares austerity but refers to solitary seclusion rather than communal discipline
hermitical
vsmonkish
9.9

Living alone and quietly for religious or spiritual reasons, like a monk

overlaps in austerity but denotes solitary life instead of communal living
hermitic
vsmonkish
9.9

Living alone and simply, often for religious or spiritual reasons

matches austerity but stresses being alone rather than belonging to a community

How Monkish

ascetic
3 8.7
austere
3 7.8
monkish
1 8.7
simple
220 1.0

Surface Forms

monkish positive

Morphology

monkish = monk (transparent) = monk + ish

The word 'monkish' is transparently derived from 'monk' with the suffix '-ish', indicating a characteristic or resemblance.

Etymology

Monkish comes from monk, which goes back to the Greek root monos meaning 'alone'. So something monkish is 'like a monk', quiet, strict and living simply because monks often live apart and avoid luxury.