1. a hair shirt or other rough garment worn next to the skin as penance or self-mortification
Usage: religious; historical

Examples

• The monk wore a cilice beneath his robes as an act of devotion.
• Medieval penitents often donned a cilice during periods of fasting.
• The rough cilice chafed against his skin as he prayed.
• She discovered an ancient cilice in the monastery’s collection.
• The cilice was woven from coarse goat hair.
• Religious ascetics traditionally wore a cilice to mortify the flesh.