Webster's English Dictionary

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solitude

sol.i.tude \'sa:l-*-.t(y)u:d\ n [ME, fr. MF, fr. L solitudin-, solitudo, 
   fr. solus] 1: the quality or state of being alone or remote from society : 
   SECLUS ION 2: a lonely place (as a desert) ne who is alone. SOLITUDE may 
   imply a condition of being apart from all human beings or of being cut off 
   by wish or compulsion from friends and neighbors; ISOLATION stresses 
   detachment from others often because of circumstances not under one's 
   control; SECLUSION suggests a shutting away or keeping apart from others 
   often connoting deliberate withdrawal from the world or retirement to a 
   quiet life SYN syn SOLITUDE, ISOLATION, SECLUSION mean the state of o