Cilice
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair worn close to the skin used by members of various Christian traditions as a self-imposed means of penance (repentance) and mortification of the flesh.
"It was deemed meritorious to disfigure the body by neglect and filth, to extenuate it by fasting and watchfulness, to lacerate it with stripes, and to fret the wounds with cilices of horsehair."
- 2 A leather strap studded with metallic barbs that cut into flesh as a constant reminder of Christ's suffering.
"All she had done was give Teena a cilice, a barbed metal chain she was to tie around her thigh for two hours every day, and a discipline, a rope whip with knotted ends she was to use on her back when she prayed the Hail Mary."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"It was deemed meritorious to disfigure the body by neglect and filth, to extenuate it by fasting and watchfulness, to lacerate it with stripes, and to fret the wounds with cilices of horsehair."
Etymology
From French cilice, from Latin cilicium (“clothing made of goatskin”), from Cilicia where it originates from.
Related phrases
More for "cilice"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.