solitary

plural solitaries

1. countableOne who lives alone, or in solitude; an anchorite, hermit or recluse.

   He brooded and intrigued fantastically. He was becoming one of the big-time solitaries. And he wasn't meant to be a solitary. He was meant to be in active life, a social creature.

   1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 24

   Synonyms: aloner, anchoret, anchorite, eremite, hermit, Miller of Dee, monk, recluse

2. abbreviationellipsisuncountableEllipsis of solitary confinement.

   The prisoners who started the riot were moved to solitary.

3. uncountableThe state of being solitary; solitude

   You must wonder why I'm relentless and all strung out/I'm consumed by the chill of solitary

   1995, Alanis Morissette, “All I Really Want”, in Jagged Little Pill

1. not comparableLiving or being by oneself; alone; having no companion present

   Though we don’t all reach nirvana when we swim, swimming may well be that last refuge from connectivity — and, for some, the only way to find the solitary self.

   2014 February 14, Bonnie Tsui, “The Self-Reflecting Pool”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2021

   2 more examples

   The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.

   2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, archived from the original on 12 Nov 2020, page 55

   Tilling my own grave to keep me level Jam another dragon down the hole Digging to the rhythm and the echo of a solitary siren One that pushes me along and leaves me so Desperate and ravenous

   2003, “Weak and Powerless”, performed by A Perfect Circle

   Synonyms: by oneself, on one's own, seclusive

2. not comparablePerformed, passed, or endured alone.

   a solitary life

   1 more example

   a solitary journey

   Synonyms: solo

3. not comparableNot much visited or frequented; remote from society

   a solitary residence or place

   Synonyms: deavely, lonely, unfrequented, unvisited

4. not comparableNot inhabited or occupied; without signs of inhabitants or occupation; desolate; deserted

   the solitary desert

   2 more examples

   How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!

   1769, Bible (King James Version), Lamentations 1.1

   Eldridge closed the despatch-case with a snap and, rising briskly, walked down the corridor to his solitary table in the dining-car.

   1931, Francis Beeding, “1/1”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps

   Synonyms: peopleless, wasteful, beingless, desert, deserted, howling, desolate, disinhabited

5. not comparableGloomy; dismal, because of not being inhabited.

   Synonyms: desolate, bleak, cheerless, comfortless, bleak, dark, morose, depressing

6. not comparableSingle; individual; sole.

   a solitary example

   2 more examples

   On once more we swung, bumping uneasily along in the antique narrow-gauge coach, with gloomy woods and gathering night outside, shouts and songs (and quacks) inside—this was not at all the sort of train ordained by the logical strategists in Paris—then grinding to a stop at a mysterious halt which was no more than a nameboard in the pinewoods, without even a footpath leading to it, but nevertheless with a solitary passenger stolidly waiting.

   1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 668

   That makes it almost half a season with just a solitary win, and Mark Hughes' side will reflect on a costly capitulation at the end of the first half after fine goals from Stuart Armstrong and Cedric Soares had seemingly put them in control.

   2018 December 1, Tom Rostance, “Southampton 2 - 2 Manchester United”, in BBC Sport

   Synonyms: lone, singular, individual, first and last, lone, one, one and only, only

7. not comparablebiologyNot associated with others of the same kind.

1. archaicArchaic form of solitaire (“Rodrigues solitaire”).