Cistercian

From French cistercien, from Latin Cistercium (“Cîteaux”), after the place where the order was founded.

• IPA^(key): /sɪsˈtɜː(ɹ)ʃən/, /sɪsˈtɜː(ɹ)ʃi.ən/

Cistercian (plural Cistercians)

1. A member of a monastic order which follows the Benedictine rule and emphasizes silent contemplative prayer.

   Synonym: white monk

   Hypernyms: Benedictine < monk < religionist < person

   Hyponym: Trappist

Cistercian (comparative more Cistercian, superlative most Cistercian)

1. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Cistercian Order and its members.
   • 1978, James Burke, Connections, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, pages 128-129:

     At some unknown point during the twelfth century the problem of waking up at night at the right time to ring the bell was solved, because, in a new version of the Rule for Cistercian monks, it says that the sacrist 'roused by the sound of the clock shall ring the church bell'.