Word.ws English Dictionary

monking

monking noun: the work or life of a monk. Also the present participle and gerund of monk.

Noun

monking (uncountable)

  1. The work or life of a monk.
    • He had chosen monking as an occupation (not a calling ,but an occupation) because he feared not only death, but even life itself, thinking that it might be easy work which would provide him shelter against the world he feared.2012, Clifford D. Simak, Shakespeare's Planet, →ISBN

Adjective

monking (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Monkish.
    • This, said Epistemon, is spoke like a true monk : I mean like a right monking monk, not a bemonked monastical monkling.1849, François Rabelais, Jacob Le Duchat, John Ozell, The Works of Francis Rabelais - Volume 2, page 233
    • May 31, 1834, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk
      The old coenobitic establishments of England were converted—perverted, rather—into monasteries and other monking receptacles.

Also used as

monking is also the present participle and gerund of monk.

Origin of monking

From monk + -ing.

Questions about monking

What does monking mean?
Monking means the work or life of a monk.
What part of speech is monking?
Monking can be a noun or an adjective.

Words near monking in the dictionary

  1. monkhoods
  2. Monkhouse
  3. monkie
  4. monkied
  5. monkies
  6. monking
  7. monkings
  8. monkish
  9. monkishly
  10. monkishness
  11. monkism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: monking (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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