Relating to or practicing extreme self-denial, discipline, and renunciation, usually for religious reasons.
From ascetic with the suffix -al (relating to). Ascetic comes from Greek asketes (one who practices). The -al form emphasizes the quality rather than the person.
Some of history's most extreme ascetical practices were incredibly dangerous—early Christian monks would stand on pillars for years or wear hair shirts infested with lice to punish the flesh.
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