ornamental hermit

noun

A person hired to live in a specially built, rustic hermitage on an estate; hired in the 18th and early 19th centuries by wealthy landowners with strict conditions often requiring them to live in solitude, not groom themselves, and dress in a wild, often druidic, fashion; regularly cared for, consulted for advice, or viewed for entertainment.

Similar
garden hermit
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Meanings

nounornamental hermit (plural ornamental hermits)

plural ornamental hermits

  1. A person hired to live in a specially built, rustic hermitage on an estate; hired in the 18th and early 19th centuries by wealthy landowners with strict conditions often requiring them to live in solitude, not groom themselves, and dress in a wild, often druidic, fashion; regularly cared for, consulted for advice, or viewed for entertainment.

    Synonyms: garden hermit

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA person hired to live in a specially built, rustic hermitage on an estate; hired in the 18th and early 19th centuries by wealthy landowners with strict conditions often requiring them to live in solitude, not groom themselves, and dress in a wild, often druidic, fashion; regularly cared for, consulted for advice, or viewed for entertainment.

Similar
garden hermit
Also see
garden hermit

Origin

From ornamental + hermit

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ornamental hermit. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ornamental%20hermit

MLA

“ornamental hermit.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ornamental%20hermit. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ornamental hermit,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ornamental%20hermit.

Source: ornamental hermit on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.