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reclusive

 - 3 dictionary results

rec⋅luse

  [n. rek-loos, ri-kloos; adj. ri-kloos, rek-loos]
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–noun
1. a person who lives in seclusion or apart from society, often for religious meditation.
2. Also, incluse. a religious voluntary immured in a cave, hut, or the like, or one remaining within a cell for life.
–adjective re⋅cluse. Also, re⋅clu⋅sive.
3. shut off or apart from the world; living in seclusion, often for religious reasons.
4. characterized by seclusion; solitary.
Origin:
1175–1225; ME < OF reclus < LL reclūsus, ptp. of reclūdere to shut up, equiv. to re- re- + -clūd-, comb. form of claudere to close + -tus ptp. suffix, with dt > s
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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re·clu·sive   (rĭ-klōō'sĭv, -zĭv)   
adj.  

  1. Seeking or preferring seclusion or isolation.

  2. Providing seclusion: a reclusive hut.

re·clu'sive·ly adv., re·clu'sive·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

recluse  (n.)
c.1225, "person shut up from the world for purposes of religious meditation," from O.Fr. reclus (fem. recluse), noun use of reclus (adj.) "shut up," from L.L. reclusus, pp. of recludere "to shut up, enclose" (but in classical L. "to throw open"), from L. re-, intensive prefix + claudere "to shut" (see close (v.)). Reclusive first recorded 1599 (recluse formerly served also as an adj. in English).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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