Solitary

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: sol=i=tar=y

CIDE DICTIONARY

Solitary, a. [L. solitarius, fr. solus alone: cf. F. solitaire. See Sole, a., and cf. Solitaire.].

•  Living or being by one's self; having no companion present; being without associates; single; alone; lonely.  [1913 Webster]

  "Those rare and solitary, these in flocks."  [1913 Webster]

  "Hie home unto my chamber,
  Where thou shalt find me, sad and solitary."  [1913 Webster]
•  Performed, passed, or endured alone; as, a solitary journey; a solitary life.  [1913 Webster]

  "Satan . . . explores his solitary flight."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not much visited or frequented; remote from society; retired; lonely; as, a solitary residence or place.  [1913 Webster]
•  Not inhabited or occupied; without signs of inhabitants or occupation; desolate; deserted; silent; still; hence, gloomy; dismal; as, the solitary desert.  [1913 Webster]

  "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people."  [1913 Webster]

  "Let that night be solitary; let no joyful voice come therein."  [1913 Webster]
•  Single; individual; sole; as, a solitary instance of vengeance; a solitary example.  [1913 Webster]
•  Not associated with others of the same kind.  [1913 Webster]

Solitary ant (Zoöl.), any solitary hymenopterous insect of the family Mutillidæ. The female of these insects is destitute of wings and has a powerful sting. The male is winged and resembles a wasp. Called also spider ant. -- Solitary bee (Zoöl.), any species of bee which does not form communities. -- Solitary sandpiper (Zoöl.), an American tattler (Totanus solitarius). -- Solitary snipe (Zoöl.), the great snipe. [Prov. Eng.] -- Solitary thrush (Zoöl.) the starling. [Prov. Eng.]

Solitary, n. 

 One who lives alone, or in solitude; an anchoret; a hermit; a recluse.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Solitary, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 living alone; not gregarious; without companions; lonely (a solitary existence).
2 (of a place) secluded or unfrequented.
3 single or sole (a solitary instance).
4 (of an insect) not living in communities.
5 Bot. growing singly, not in a cluster.
--n. (pl. -ies)
1 a recluse or anchorite.
2 colloq. = solitary confinement.

Idiom

solitary confinement isolation of a prisoner in a separate cell as a punishment.

Derivative

solitarily adv. solitariness n.

Etymology

ME f. L solitarius f. solus alone

THESAURUS

Solitary

Diogenes, Hieronymian, Hieronymite, Timon of Athens, a certain, abandoned, alien, alienated, all alone, alone, aloof, an, anchoress, anchorite, any, any one, apart, ascetic, atomic, bedridden invalid, case, character, cloistered, cloistered monk, closet cynic, companionless, crackpot, crank, desert fathers, desert saints, deserted, desolate, detached, distant, eccentric, either, eremite, eremitic, exclusive, fanatic, forsaken, friendless, hermit, hermitess, hermitical, hobo, homebody, homeless, in solitude, individual, indivisible, insociable, insular, integral, invalid, irreducible, isolated, isolationist, kithless, kook, lone, lone wolf, lonely, loner, lonesome, marabout, maverick, meshuggenah, misanthropic, monadic, monistic, natural, nonconformist, nut, odd fellow, oddball, oddity, offish, one, only, original, out-of-the-way, outcast, outsider, pariah, particular, pillar saint, pillarist, queer duck, queer fish, queer specimen, rara avis, recluse, reclusive, remote, removed, reserved, rootless, screwball, secluded, seclusionist, separate, separated, shut-in, simple, single, single-handed, singular, sole, solid, solitaire, solitudinarian, solo, standoffish, stay-at-home, stylite, tramp, type, unabetted, unaccompanied, unaided, unanalyzable, unapproachable, unassisted, unattended, uncompanionable, uncouth, undivided, unescorted, unexampled, unfrequented, uniform, unique, unitary, unrepeatable, unseconded, unsocial, unsupported, whole, withdrawn, zealot

ROGET THESAURUS

Solitary

Unity

N unity, oneness, individuality, solitude, isolation, unification, one, unit, ace, individual, none else, no other, one, sole, single, solitary, unitary, individual, apart, alone, kithless, unaccompanied, unattended, solus, single-handed, singular, odd, unique, unrepeated, azygous, first and last, isolated, insular, monospermous, unific, uniflorous, unifoliate, unigenital, uniliteral, unijocular, unimodal, unimodular, lone, lonely, lonesome, desolate, dreary, insecable, inseverable, indiscerptible, compact, indivisible, atomic, irresolvable, singly, alone, by itself, per se, only, apart, in the singular number, in the abstract, one by one, one at a time, simply, one and a half, sesqui-, natura il fece, e poi roppe la stampa, du fort au faible, two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one.

Exclusion

N exclusion, nonadmission, omission, exception, rejection, repudiation, exile, noninclusion, preclusion, prohibition, separation, segregation, seposition, elimination, expulsion, cofferdam, excluding, exclusive, excluded, unrecounted, not included in, inadmissible, exclusive of, barring, except, with the exception of, save, bating, exclusion, seclusion, exclusion, seclusion, privacy, retirement, reclusion, recess, snugness, delitescence, rustication, rus in urbe, solitude, solitariness, isolation, loneliness, estrangement from the world, voluntary exile, aloofness, cell, hermitage, convent, sanctum sanctorum, depopulation, desertion, desolation, wilderness, howling wilderness, rotten borough, Old Sarum, exclusion, excommunication, banishment, exile, ostracism, proscription, cut, cut direct, dead cut, inhospitality, inhospitableness, dissociability, domesticity, Darby and Joan, recluse, hermit, eremite, cenobite, anchoret, anchorite, Simon Stylites, troglodyte, Timon of Athens, Santon, solitaire, ruralist, disciple of Zimmermann, closet cynic, Diogenes, outcast, Pariah, castaway, pilgarlic, wastrel, foundling, wilding, secluded, sequestered, retired, delitescent, private, bye, out of the world, out of the way, the world forgetting by the world forgot, snug, domestic, stay-at-home, unsociable, unsocial, dissocial, inhospitable, cynical, inconversable, unclubbable, sauvage, troglodytic, solitary, lonely, lonesome, isolated, single, estranged, unfrequented, uninhabitable, uninhabited, tenantless, abandoned, deserted, deserted in one's utmost need, unfriended, kithless, friendless, homeless, lorn, forlorn, desolate, unvisited, unintroduced, uninvited, unwelcome, under a cloud, left to shift for oneself, derelict, outcast, banished, noli me tangere, among them but not of them, and homeless near a thousand homes I stood, far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, makes a solitude and calls it peace, magna civitas magna solitudo, never less alone than when alone, O sacred solitude! divine retreat!.