Solitude

n.	1.	state of being alone, or withdrawn from society; a lonely life; loneliness. Whosoever is delighted with solitude is either a wild beast or a god. - Bacon. O Solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? - Cowper.
	2.	Remoteness from society; destitution of company; seclusion; - said of places; as, the solitude of a wood. The solitude of his little parish is become matter of great comfort to him. - Law.
	3.	solitary or lonely place; a desert or wilderness. In these deep solitudes and awful cells Where heavenly pensive contemplation dwells. - Pope. O blest retirement, friend to life's decline. - Goldsmith. 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. It is a place of seclusion from the external world. - Bp. Horsley. These evils . . . seem likely to reduce it [a city] ere long to the loneliness and the insignificance of a village. - Eustace.

Noun	1.	solitude - a state of social isolation Synonyms: purdah
	2.	solitude - a solitary place
	3.	solitude - a disposition toward being alone Synonyms: aloneness, lonesomeness, loneliness

aloneness, aloofness, celibacy, confinement, detachment, emptiness, isolation, keeping apart, loneness, lonesomeness, moving apart, quarantine, remoteness, separateness, sequestration, single blessedness, singleness, solitariness, splendid isolation, wilderness, withdrawal