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solitude - 4 dictionary results

sol⋅i⋅tude

  [sol-i-tood, -tyood]
Use solitude in a Sentence
–noun
1. the state of being or living alone; seclusion: to enjoy one's solitude.
2. remoteness from habitations, as of a place; absence of human activity: the solitude of the mountains.
3. a lonely, unfrequented place: a solitude in the mountains.
Origin:
1325–75; ME < MF < L sōlitūdō. See soli- 1 , -tude

Related forms:
sol⋅i⋅tu⋅di⋅nous  [sol-i-tood-n-uhs, -tyood-] , adjective

Synonyms:
1. retirement, privacy. Solitude, isolation refer to a state of being or living alone. Solitude emphasizes the quality of being or feeling lonely and deserted: to live in solitude. Isolation may mean merely a detachment and separation from others: to be put in isolation with an infectious disease. 2. loneliness. 3. desert, wilderness.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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sol·i·tude   (sŏl'ĭ-tōōd', -tyōōd')   
n.  
  1. The state or quality of being alone or remote from others.
  2. A lonely or secluded place.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin sōlitūdō, from sōlus, alone; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: These nouns denote the state of being alone. Solitude implies the absence of all others: "The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship" (Francis Bacon). "I love tranquil solitude" (Percy Bysshe Shelley).
Isolation emphasizes total separation or detachment from others: "the isolation of Crusoe, depicted by Defoe's genius" (Winston Churchill).
Seclusion suggests removal, though not necessarily complete inaccessibility; the term often connotes a withdrawal from social contact: enjoyed my walk in the seclusion of the woods.
Retirement suggests a withdrawal or retreat from active life, as for serenity or privacy: "an elegant sufficiency, content,/Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books" (James Thomson).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Solitude

Sol"i*tude\, n. [F., from L. solitudo, solus alone. See Sole, a.]

1. state of being alone, or withdrawn from society; a lonely life; loneliness.

Whosoever is delighted with solitude is either a wild beast or a god. --Bacon.

O Solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? --Cowper.

2. Remoteness from society; destitution of company; seclusion; -- said of places; as, the solitude of a wood.

The solitude of his little parish is become matter of great comfort to him. --Law.

3. solitary or lonely place; a desert or wilderness.

In these deep solitudes and awful cells Where heavenly pensive contemplation dwells. --Pope.

Syn: Syn. Loneliness; soitariness; loneness; retiredness; recluseness. -- Solitude, Retirement, Seclusion, Loneliness.

Usage: Retirement is a withdrawal from general society, implying that a person has been engaged in its scenes. Solitude describes the fact that a person is alone; seclusion, that he is shut out from others, usually by his own choice; loneliness, that he feels the pain and oppression of being alone. Hence, retirement is opposed to a gay, active, or public life; solitude, to society; seclusion, to freedom of access on the part of others; and loneliness, enjoyment of that society which the heart demands.

O blest retirement, friend to life's decline. --Goldsmith.

Such only can enjoy the country who are capable of thinking when they are there; then they are prepared for solitude; and in that [the country] solitude is prepared for them. --Dryden.

It is a place of seclusion from the external world. --Bp. Horsley.

These evils . . . seem likely to reduce it [a city] ere long to the loneliness and the insignificance of a village. --Eustace.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : solitude
Spanish: soledad,
German: die Einsamkeit,
Japanese: 孤独
More Translations »

solitude 
c.1374, from O.Fr. solitude "loneliness," from L. solitudinem (nom. solitudo) "loneliness," from solus "alone" (see sole (adj.)). "Not in common use in English until the 17th c." [OED]
"A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; ... if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free." [Schopenhauer, "The World as Will and Idea," 1818]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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