How to Use asceticism in a Sentence

asceticism

noun
  • Yet even Bergman, for all his asceticism, had an austere inner drama queen.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 31 Jan. 2024
  • Emmett’s inner sanctum acts as a symbol for his asceticism and his refusal to engage with the world.
    — Jerrine Tan, Wired, 16 June 2021
  • Just books and plays, and an asceticism associated with the priests Jim would often play.
    — Carl Kurlander, Deadline, 13 June 2026
  • The practice evolved from the broader rise of asceticism, especially among (young, very online) men.
    — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 26 Aug. 2024
  • Hers was not a burdensome asceticism but one of rare, insignificant affairs that put her on a par with her peers in life experience.
    — Lyudmila Ulitskaya, The New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Ryushin is on a spiritual journey of his own, trying to reconcile his love for sweets and heavy-metal music with the asceticism of his peers.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 6 May 2022
  • The real Amstel of my childhood was obedient to the point of asceticism, a hunting dog who barely hunted.
    — Natalie Krebs, Field & Stream, 5 Oct. 2020
  • To achieve acceptance by Shiva, Parvati performed acts of extreme asceticism and penance.
    — Washington Post, 9 Nov. 2023
  • So have Sufis, who practice a form of Islamic mysticism or asceticism.
    — Claire Parker, Washington Post, 18 Aug. 2022
  • In the Renaissance and in the modern age, in the Bellini and the Breuer, sometimes asceticism is the path to the sublime.
    — New York Times, 25 Feb. 2021
  • Toothache would rather try out the minimalism and asceticism of Ye’s Donda (on which Bell was a vocal editor).
    — Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 9 June 2022
  • For much of Western history, Christian influence promoted asceticism and a denial of the body.
    — Jordan Castro, Harper's Magazine, 9 Jan. 2024
  • That state of affairs has diluted asceticism from the actual, if difficult, rejection of indulgence into a fetish for that abstinence.
    — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 26 Aug. 2024
  • Simmons took that religious devotion to exercise, stripped away its grim asceticism and elitism, and imbued it with pure emotionalism and inclusivity.
    — Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, The Atlantic, 16 July 2024
  • Learning about the Buddha’s Middle Way, a way of life that recognizes and threads the extremes of asceticism and hedonism, provides a way of living life in balance.
    — Mitch Hendrickson, The Conversation, 29 July 2024
  • Answering this call is not about purist asceticism; it is affirmatively oriented toward building community.
    — Jishnu Guha-Majumdar, Vox, 8 Aug. 2024
  • This new approach, which banishes the extreme asceticism needed for another Baywatch body, Efron finds healthier and more sustainable.
    — Josh St. Clair, Men's Health, 7 Sep. 2022
  • Buddhist organizations, whose members are also known to skew older, have been trying to connect with younger people by updating the image of monastics, usually known for their no-nonsense asceticism.
    — Koh Ewe, TIME, 13 May 2024
  • But beneath his outer asceticism, there also appears to be a note of arrogance, of the proudly intrepid colonialist setting off to bring God to the primitive subjects of Danish rule.
    — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 May 2022
  • Just as religion can be very effective at helping people bear through difficult times, religious-like inspiration can be key to getting a scientist to withstand the years of asceticism on the way to great discoveries.
    — Mark Changizi, Discover Magazine, 4 Nov. 2011
  • There would be endless opportunities to learn languages, crafts, and sports; to study science, philosophy, and art; to delve into hedonism and asceticism and consider the nature of humanity.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 10 June 2021
  • People attempt to emancipate themselves from cheap dopamine hits–alcohol, TikTok, toxic relationships–and commit themselves to a life of asceticism.
    — Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 4 Jan. 2024
  • Diverse comprehensive doctrines — Buddhism, pacifism, asceticism and so on — are all consistent with liberal principles of governance.
    — Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post, 3 July 2024
  • Said fact is produced in service of an introduction to the hermits, anchorites, and stylites whose paradoxical celebrity attests to the fascination that the Christian world had for asceticism beginning in the fourth century.
    — Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 24 Dec. 2021
  • Related Articles The store’s interior design is in the direction of minimalist asceticism, though warm elements add balance.
    — Alexa Tietjen, WWD, 13 Sep. 2024
  • Henry David Thoreau, a figure associated with nature, asceticism, self-reliance and social criticism, must have reminded someone in his day of Diogenes.
    — Daniel Akst, WSJ, 2 Sep. 2020
  • Frayne writes that some second- and third-century sects, such as the Encratites, Priscilliantists, and Manicheans, advocated against meat eating, typically as part of a broader asceticism that might also include celibacy.
    — Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 4 Aug. 2025
  • Within the span of two centuries, in three separate regions of Eurasia, spiritual movements emerged that would give rise to the world's major moral religions, those preaching some combination of compassion, humility and asceticism.
    — Bret Stetka, Scientific American, 1 May 2015
  • Yes, with the United States facing threats both within and without, our tastemakers decided to focus on body aesthetics or, more specifically, on pursuing a brutal thinness that all but demanded asceticism from its adherents.
    — John Paul Brammer, SELF, 7 Sep. 2023
  • And, for a population just one generation removed from near-universal poverty, Western celebrations of India’s mystical asceticism hold little appeal.
    — Peter Martin, Foreign Affairs, 15 Apr. 2015

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'asceticism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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