variants
or ancress
as in prioress
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Recent Examples of anchoress
In the medieval church, women’s roles were limited – usually some form of enclosure and celibacy, such as becoming an anchoress walled up alone for life, or a nun in a classic convent.
—
Joelle Rollo-Koster, The Conversation, 25 Feb. 2025
Louise, a former anchoress, is her humble, tyrannical maid.
—Hervé Guibert, Harper's Magazine, 2 Nov. 2024
Some of the spotlighted individuals, like St. Catherine of Siena and English anchoress Julian of Norwich, were celebrated in their day as visionaries, while others, including Kempe and Joan of Arc, were persecuted as heretics.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Oct. 2024
Joelle Rollo-Koster, The Conversation, 25 Feb. 2025
Louise, a former anchoress, is her humble, tyrannical maid.
—Hervé Guibert, Harper's Magazine, 2 Nov. 2024
Some of the spotlighted individuals, like St. Catherine of Siena and English anchoress Julian of Norwich, were celebrated in their day as visionaries, while others, including Kempe and Joan of Arc, were persecuted as heretics.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for anchoress
Noun
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Marie, who becomes the prioress of the abbey at 17, begins a rise to power — or as much power as a woman is permitted — using her fellow nuns to fight off political and violent incursions.—
Mark Athitakis,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Feb. 2026
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Matrix by Lauren Groff Currents of violence and devotion coalesce around Marie de France, a 17-year-old sent to be the new prioress of a 12th-century English abbey.—
Mia Barzilay Freund,
Vogue,
7 July 2025
Noun
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Hildegard was a Catholic abbess of the Benedictine Order.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 Mar. 2026
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Now, thanks to a greater emphasis on women’s education in recent years, Tibetan Buddhist nuns are increasingly becoming teachers and abbesses.—
Darcie Price-Wallace,
The Conversation,
26 Sep. 2025
Noun
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As a young religious, Bishop-elect Lombardo did missionary work in Bolivia and Honduras.—
Laura Rodríguez Presa,
chicagotribune.com,
11 Sep. 2020
Noun
-
Like the nun Beate before her, Susanna seems destined, as punishment for her overwhelming ardor, to be walled into the convent.—
Caroline Lillian Schopp,
Artforum,
13 May 2026
-
There was an assault on a nun in Jerusalem.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
10 May 2026
Noun
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There’s no record of Caedmon jotting the poem down himself—but records of it can be found in copies of a history of Christianity in England written by the Venerable Bede, an English monk and scholar, called the Ecclesiastical History of the English People.—
Jackie Flynn Mogensen,
Scientific American,
18 May 2026
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Even heritage British shoemakers, renowned for robust brogues and monk straps, delved into sleek leather and suede iterations.—
Michael Stefanov,
Robb Report,
18 May 2026
Noun
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These people who see the theater as almost a monastic calling something of a higher order, and they’re brilliantly educated and funny.—
Caitlin Huston,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Oct. 2025
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As the numbers of women at the highest echelons of learning continue to grow, women will likewise expand their ability to take leadership roles in their monastic and lay communities – helping to improve other nuns’ education and protecting Tibetan culture in the process.—
Darcie Price-Wallace,
The Conversation,
26 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Nearly 500 years before, a Franciscan friar arrived in what is now the state of Jalisco carrying a 13-inch icon of the Virgin Mary that had been molded by Indigenous craftsmen from a paste of corn pith and orchid bulbs.—
Franklin Leonard,
Vanity Fair,
14 May 2026
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As the first year of Leo’s historic pontificate comes to a close, the longtime missionary and Augustinian friar remains a stalwart champion of migrants, the poor and care for the environment, a trinity of issues at the core of his ministry.—
Angie Leventis Lourgos,
Chicago Tribune,
6 May 2026
Noun
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Because George, portrayed by Hugh Jackman, routinely read mysteries to his charges before his sudden demise, these sheep aren’t complete novices, said Wilson Chapman in IndieWire.—
The Week US,
TheWeek,
18 May 2026
-
To my novice eye, Prysock moved without defect.—
Dan Greene,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Anchoress.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/anchoress. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
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