noun
dervish
DUR-vish/ˈdɜːrvɪʃ/
A member of a Sufi religious order practicing ascetic devotion.
A dervish in a white robe whirls as an act of devotion.
Etymology
Persian darvish meant a beggar or poor person and came to mean a religious mendicant. The religious sense centers on the commitment to poverty and austerity.
In context
there lived a very famous dervish who was esteemed the best philosopher in all turkey
More examples
- Not every dervish belongs to an order that practices whirling.
- The dervishes gather for prayer and spiritual instruction.
- The visitor asks a dervish about his daily spiritual practice.
Forms
dervish · dervishes
Similar words
- ascetic
- An ascetic practices self-denial, not necessarily within a Sufi order.
- Sufi
- A Sufi follows Islamic mysticism but is not necessarily ascetic.