solitude

Definitions

1. 1.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.
2. 2.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 (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "solitude" mean?
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Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is solitude.

• What is 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 called?