solitude Meaning, Definition & Usage

Sol"i*tude noun

Etymology

F., from L. solitudo, solus alone. See Sole, a.

Definitions

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 state of being alone, or withdrawn from society; a lonely life; loneliness.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