SOLITUDE

solitude

(noun) a solitary place

solitude

(noun) the state or situation of being alone

solitude, purdah

(noun) a state of social isolation

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

solitude (countable and uncountable, plural solitudes)

Aloneness; state of being alone or solitary, by oneself.

Synonym: aloneness

Antonym: intimacy

A lonely or deserted place.

Anagrams

• outslide, slideout, toluides

Source: Wiktionary

Sol"i*tude, n. Etym: [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 state of being alone, or withdrawn from society; a lonely life; loneliness.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. Loneliness; soitariness; loneness; retiredness; recluseness.

– Solitude, Retirement, Seclusion, Loneliness. 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition