How to Use asceticism in a Sentence

asceticism

noun
  • The week of March 8: bond worries, Biden’s binge, the cult of asceticism, and much, much more.
    Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 13 Mar. 2021
  • 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
  • There’s a certain asceticism to being goth in hot weather.
    Suzy Exposito, Vogue, 21 Jan. 2021
  • 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
  • Yet even Bergman, for all his asceticism, had an austere inner drama queen.
    Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 31 Jan. 2024
  • The loss of Hanna’s wife and child in that event sets him on a path of asceticism, attracting disciples and a new swarm of rumors: this time, of his destiny as a Christian saint.
    Sarah Cypher, Washington Post, 18 July 2023
  • 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
  • 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
  • That such enforced asceticism, which would be mainly confined to the West, would have little or no effect on the climate is irrelevant.
    Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 25 June 2021
  • Fuyuko realizes that her asceticism has masked hidden hurts.
    Washington Post, 5 May 2022
  • For all his frugality, Mr. Kaushik hasn’t committed to a life of complete asceticism.
    New York Times, 7 Mar. 2021
  • 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
  • For me, prayer, asceticism and community keep me grounded.
    Expert Panel®, Forbes, 26 Jan. 2022
  • 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
  • For much of Western history, Christian influence promoted asceticism and a denial of the body.
    Jordan Castro, Harper's Magazine, 9 Jan. 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • The Beginnings of Moral Religion These five major movements mark the beginning of humanity's turn toward religions that emphasize personal morality and asceticism, according to a new study.
    Bret Stetka, Scientific American, 1 May 2015
  • Diverse comprehensive doctrines — Buddhism, pacifism, asceticism and so on — are all consistent with liberal principles of governance.
    Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post, 3 July 2024

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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