Recluse vs. Hermit — What's the Difference?

A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion from the public and society. The word is from the Latin recludere, which means "shut up" or "sequester".

A person who retires from society and lives in solitude; a recluse; an anchoret; especially, one who so lives from religious motives.

A person who lives a solitary life and tends to avoid other people

A hermit, or eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic), is a person who lives in seclusion. Hermits are a part of several sections of various religions and this concept has garnered significant attention and importance.

Favouring a solitary life.

A person living in solitude as a religious discipline.

A person who withdraws from the world to live in seclusion and often in solitude.

A hummingbird found in the shady lower layers of tropical forests, foraging along a regular route.

Withdrawn from the world; reclusive.

A person who has withdrawn from society and lives a solitary existence; a recluse.

Sequestered; secluded, isolated

A cookie made with molasses, raisins, and nuts.

Hidden, secret

A religious recluse; someone who lives alone for religious reasons; an eremite.

A person who lives in self-imposed isolation or seclusion from the world, especially for religious purposes; a hermit

A recluse; someone who lives alone and shuns human companionship.

(obsolete) the place where a recluse dwells; a place of isolation or seclusion

A spiced cookie made with molasses, raisins, and nuts.

(US) a brown recluse spider

A hermit crab.

(obsolete) to shut; to seclude

Any in the subfamily Phaethornithinae of hummingbirds.

Shut up, sequestered; retired from the world or from public notice; solitary; living apart; as, a recluse monk or hermit; a recluse life

A beadsman; one bound to pray for another.

A person who lives in seclusion from intercourse with the world, as a hermit or monk; specifically, one of a class of secluded devotees who live in single cells, usually attached to monasteries.

A spiced molasses cookie, often containing chopped raisins and nuts.

The place where a recluse dwells.

One retired from society for religious reasons

To shut up; to seclude.

One who lives in solitude

One who lives in solitude

Withdrawn from society; seeking solitude;