solitary

1 of 2

adjective

sol·​i·​tary ˈsä-lə-ˌter-ē How to pronounce solitary (audio)
1
a
: being, living, or going alone or without companions
b
: saddened by isolation
2
: unfrequented, desolate
a solitary seashore
3
a
: taken, passed, or performed without companions
a solitary ramble
b
: keeping a prisoner apart from others
solitary confinement
4
: being at once single and isolated
a solitary example
5
a
: occurring singly and not as part of a group or cluster
flowers terminal and solitary
b
: not gregarious, colonial, social, or compound
solitary bees
solitarily adverb
solitariness noun

solitary

2 of 2

noun

plural solitaries
1
: one who lives or seeks to live a solitary life : recluse
2
: solitary confinement in prison
put him in solitary
Choose the Right Synonym for solitary

alone, solitary, lonely, lonesome, lone, forlorn, desolate mean isolated from others.

alone stresses the objective fact of being by oneself with slighter notion of emotional involvement than most of the remaining terms.

everyone needs to be alone sometimes

solitary may indicate isolation as a chosen course

glorying in the calm of her solitary life

but more often it suggests sadness and a sense of loss.

left solitary by the death of his wife

lonely adds to solitary a suggestion of longing for companionship.

felt lonely and forsaken

lonesome heightens the suggestion of sadness and poignancy.

an only child often leads a lonesome life

lone may replace lonely or lonesome but typically is as objective as alone.

a lone robin pecking at the lawn

forlorn stresses dejection, woe, and listlessness at separation from one held dear.

a forlorn lost child

desolate implies inconsolable grief at loss or bereavement.

desolate after her brother's death

Examples of solitary in a Sentence

Adjective He took a solitary walk on the beach. A solitary house stood on top of the cliff. Most cats are solitary creatures. He's a very solitary man. Noun The prisoner was kept in solitary. weary of European civilization, the painter Paul Gauguin famously abandoned France to become a solitary in the South Seas
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
As Max got older, his explorations grew more solitary, which led me to a new worry: that his interests were pulling him away from his fellow humans rather than toward them. Paul Tough, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2024 Nixon is known on Instagram for delicately capturing with pen and marker the humor and beauty in our mundane moments, often featuring solitary women and girls. Lisa Wong MacAbasco, Vogue, 27 Feb. 2024 She is befriended by a younger, somewhat solitary man who, in turn, suffers from panic attacks. Patrick Frater, Variety, 20 Feb. 2024 Even if solitude wasn’t initially chosen, this mindset shift highlights their personal agency and the ability to make the most of their time, leading to a positive solitary experience. Mark Travers, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024 The fact that cephalopods—which are usually solitary creatures—are being found congregating near vents, scientists say, could open new doors to octopus study and discovery. Christian Thorsberg, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Jan. 2024 Answer: The majority of native bees are solitary and ground nesting. Melinda Myers, Journal Sentinel, 8 Mar. 2024 But thankfully, my fascination with the silver screen is not a solitary yearning, and writers have long unveiled its secrets and stories in books. Fran Hoepfner, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2024 Loving Music Takes Action Since 2017, on each anniversary of her birth, Liu Lian has unveiled a solitary opus that leans more toward personal introspection. Billboard China, Billboard, 6 Mar. 2024
Noun
Former convicts also said that men in solitary had to put away their beds from waking call to sleep time, forcing them to stand or sit for most of the day. Anatoly Kurmanaev, New York Times, 29 Feb. 2024 The changes allow inmates in solitary to participate in additional rehabilitative programming and shave time off their isolation by earning credits. Lindsey Holden, Sacramento Bee, 31 Jan. 2024 The Rules of Seclusion In 2016, a suit in Rutherford County challenged the use of solitary confinement in the juvenile detention center after a child was kept in solitary for days for disrupting class. Paige Pfleger, ProPublica, 16 Nov. 2023 The state promised the kids wouldn’t be held in solitary. María Luisa Paúl, Washington Post, 11 Sep. 2023 Not every state keeps its death-row population in solitary. Keri Blakinger, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2023 Four pairs of slippers had appeared outside a cell two down from me, hinting at four inmates who most likely had just come out of solitary to be kept in a large cell together. Hossein Derakhshan, WIRED, 21 July 2023 One man was taken to solitary to pressure him to end his hunger strike. María Inés Taracena, The New Republic, 12 Apr. 2023 Guilt, confession, penitence — this legacy vocabulary of criminal justice calls back to a time when confinement was about reform and salvation, before modern punishment turned exclusively on physical torture, the amateur savagery of shower-rape jokes, random beat-downs, the cruelty of solitary. New York Times, 7 June 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'solitary.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English, solitarie, from Anglo-French, from Latin solitarius, from solitas aloneness, from solus alone

First Known Use

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of solitary was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near solitary

Cite this Entry

“Solitary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solitary. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

solitary

1 of 2 adjective
sol·​i·​tary ˈsäl-ə-ˌter-ē How to pronounce solitary (audio)
1
: all alone
a solitary traveler
2
: seldom visited : lonely
3
: being the only one : sole
solitary example
4
: growing or living alone : not forming part of a group or cluster
flowers at the end of the stalk and solitary
the solitary wasps
solitarily
ˌsäl-ə-ˈter-ə-lē
adverb
solitariness
ˈsäl-ə-ˌter-ē-nəs
noun

solitary

2 of 2 noun
plural solitaries
: one who lives or seeks to live a solitary life : recluse, hermit

Medical Definition

solitary

adjective
sol·​i·​tary ˈsäl-ə-ˌter-ē How to pronounce solitary (audio)
: occurring singly and not as part of a group
a solitary lesion

More from Merriam-Webster on solitary

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