'Solitude' definitions:
Definition of 'solitude'
From: WordNet
noun
A state of social isolation [syn: solitude, purdah]
noun
The state or situation of being alone
noun
A solitary place
Definition of 'Solitude'
From: GCIDE
- 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 state of being alone, or withdrawn from society; a lonely life; loneliness. [1913 Webster]
- Whosoever is delighted with solitude is either a wild beast or a god. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
- O Solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? --Cowper. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Remoteness from society; destitution of company; seclusion; -- said of places; as, the solitude of a wood. [1913 Webster]
- The solitude of his little parish is become matter of great comfort to him. --Law. [1913 Webster]
- 3. solitary or lonely place; a desert or wilderness. [1913 Webster]
- In these deep solitudes and awful cells Where heavenly pensive contemplation dwells. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- O blest retirement, friend to life's decline. --Goldsmith. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- It is a place of seclusion from the external world. --Bp. Horsley. [1913 Webster]
- These evils . . . seem likely to reduce it [a city] ere long to the loneliness and the insignificance of a village. --Eustace. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'solitude'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- alienation,
- aloneness,
- aloofness,
- celibacy,
- confinement,
- detachment,
- emptiness,
- isolation,
- keeping apart,
- loneliness,
- loneness,
- lonesomeness,
- moving apart,
- privacy,
- quarantine,
- remoteness,
- retirement,
- seclusion,
- separateness,
- sequestration,
- single blessedness,
- singleness,
- solitariness,
- splendid isolation,
- wilderness,
- withdrawal