renouncer

A renouncer is a person who renounces or relinquishes something previously held, most often wealth, social ties, or worldly life. In religious and spiritual contexts, renunciation is a deliberate withdrawal from ordinary life to pursue a higher goal such as enlightenment, liberation, or devotional service. Renouncers may adopt ascetic practices, take vows of poverty or celibacy, and live as wanderers, hermits, or members of ascetic orders.

In Hinduism and Jainism, renouncers are commonly called sannyasis or samnyasins. They renounce family, property, and attachments to pursue spiritual liberation, often living on alms and observing strict disciplines. In Buddhism, renunciation is central to monastic life; monks and nuns renounce lay society and possessions to follow the Vinaya and the Eightfold Path. Christian traditions also describe renunciation through monastic vows or evangelical renunciation of wealth and status in pursuit of religious devotion.

Etymology and related terms: the word derives from the verb renounce, with the agent suffix -er; in religious literature the term is sometimes used interchangeably with renunciant or ascetic. See also renunciation, asceticism, monasticism, sannyasa.