Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or characteristic of monks or monasticism.
  • adjective Inclined to self-denial; ascetic.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Like a monk; pertaining to monks or to the monastic system; monastic: often a term of contempt: as, monkish manners; monkish solitude.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Like a monk, or pertaining to monks; monastic

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Pertaining to, or resembling a monk or monasticism.
  • adjective Tending to self-denial; ascetic.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective befitting a monk; inclined to self-denial

Etymologies

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Examples

  • I term monkish morality, to remark it by the way, such precepts of ethics, such rules of life as aro4e during the time when the monastic state was held to be the only holy condition of life, the only one well-pleasing to God, and al - most the only, at least the only safe means of becoming happy; when the whole of piety was made to consist in praying and singing, in a so - litary, inactive and contemplative lifci when it TOii.

    Sermons on Prevalent Errors, and Vices and on Various Other Topics Georg Joachim Zollikofer 1812

  • Zacharias Werner, author of a number of romantic melodramas, the heroes of which are described as monkish ascetics, religious mystics, and "spirits who wander on earth in the guise of harp-players" -- Zacharias Werner also went to Vienna and joined the order of Ligorians.

    A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century 1886

  • Esclairmonde -- nay, after every glance towards her -- as though it were a blessed thing to have, like her, chosen the better part; he knew she would approve his resort to the home of piety and learning; he was aware that when with Ralf Percy and the other youths of the Court he was ashamed of his own scrupulousness, and tempted to neglect observances that they might call monkish and unmanly; and he was not at all sure that in face of the enemy a panic might not seize him and disgrace him for ever!

    The Caged Lion Charlotte Mary Yonge 1862

  • This most extraordinary pile was situated in a deep valley, closely surrounded by hills, as though the very light of the sun had been an indulgence too great for the mortified beings who once inhabited there to enjoy, while the croaking of rooks, the dashing of a waterfall, and the gloom of overhanging woods, seemed well calculated to sooth that melancholy, which, in the idea of monkish superstition constituted that divine principle whose real existence dissipates every mental gloom, and diffuses serenity and joy through all the powers of the soul.

    Ashton Priory Anonymous 1792

  • Some of the more learned men were kind of monkish, not sharing the values of the culture as a whole.

    Schiele and synthesis revisted M-mv 2006

  • Some of the more learned men were kind of monkish, not sharing the values of the culture as a whole.

    Archive 2006-01-01 M-mv 2006

  • Vine-leaves and bunches of grapes decorate some of the more ancient columns inside the church, and grotesque mediæval monsters, such as monkish architects habitually delighted in, entwine themselves around the capitals of others.

    Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines Henry Vizetelly 1857

  • Then he confesses he has 'monkish' tendencies - hence his choice of hotel today.

    Home | Mail Online 2009

  • "monkish" consecration to his craft we cannot do better than reproduce a passage, quoted by Pater, from his letters to Madame Colet:

    The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters Sand, George, 1804-1876 1921

  • Arguments should not be pitched as if the judges were normal people with normal life experience; eschew plain common sense in favor of the kind of monkish jesuitical hair-splitting scholasticism that would make Plato’s headspin.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Oral Argument — Common Mistakes: 2009

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