cœnobite, cenobite
(ˈsiːnəʊbaɪt, ˈsɛnəʊbaɪt)
[ad. late L. cœnobīta, f. cœnobium; see below. Cf. F. cénobite. (In this word, and its cognates, English usage prefers cœ- to ce-.)]
A member of a religious order living in a community; opposed to an anchoret, who lives in solitude.
| a 1638 Mede Wks. iii. 688 Cœnobites which live in society. 1776–88 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxvii. (R.), The monks were divided into two classes: the cœnobites..and the anachorets. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. India I. 109 The progress from single monks to cenobites. 1856 Stanley Sinai & Pal. i. i. 50 The anchorites and cœnobites were drawn by the sight of these wild mountains. |
| attrib. 1819 Q. Rev. XXII. 63 The coenobite, it was argued, was preferable to the solitary life. 1876 C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond. 156 The cœnobite brethren. |