[ad. late L. cœnobīta, f. cœnobium; see below. Cf. F. cénobite. (In this word, and its cognates, English usage prefers cœ- to ce-.)] A member of a religious order living in a community; opposed to an anchoret, who lives in solitude.
a. 1638. Mede, Wks. (1672), III. 688. Cœnobites which live in Society.
1776–88. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xxxvii. (R.). The monks were divided into two classes: the Cœnobites, who lived under a common, and regular, discipline; and the Anachorets, who indulged their unsocial, independent, fanaticism.
1841. Elphinstone, Hist. India, I. 109. The progress from single monks to cenobites, among the early Christians.
1856. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., I. i. 50–1. The anchorites and cœnobites were drawn by the sight of these wild mountains across the Red Sea.
attrib. 1819. Q. Rev., XXII. 63. The cœnobite, it was argued, was preferable to the solitary life.
1876. C. M. Davies, Unorth. Lond., 156. The cœnobite brethren.
