# solitude
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English solitude, from Old French solitude. By surface analysis, sole +‎ -itude.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈsɒlɪˌtjuːd/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈsɑlɪˌtud/
* Hyphenation: sol‧i‧tude
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

solitude (countable and uncountable, plural solitudes)
* Aloneness; the state of being alone, solitary, or by oneself.
    Synonyms: aloneness, seclusion; see also Thesaurus:solitude
    Antonym: intimacy
** 1859, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia, page 2:Now the New Year reviving old Desires, The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.
** 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →ISBN, page 193:Cranks like Rousseau made solitude glamorous, but sensible people agreed that it was really terrible.
* A lonely or deserted place.
    Synonyms: back of beyond, (vulgar) bumfuck, corner, hermitage, hermitry, hidey-hole, seclusion
** 1813, Lord Byron, Bride of Abydos, Canto 2, stanza 20:Mark where his carnage and his conquests cease! He makes a solitude, and calls it — peace.
** 1874, Georg August Schweinfurth, chapter I, in Ellen E. Frewer, transl., The Heart of Africa: Three Years' Travels and Adventures in the Unexplored Regions of Central Africa, from 1868 to 1871‎, second edition, volume I, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, And Searle, translation of Im Herzen von Afrika, Botanical Ardour:[S]uch an one […] recalls as a vision of Paradise the land he has learnt to love; he exaggerates the insalubrity of a northern climate; he bewails the wretched formality of our civilised life, and so, back to the distant solitudes flies his recollection like a dove to the wilderness.

#### Derived terms

* two solitudes

#### Related terms

* sole
* solo
* soliloquy
* solitary
* solitudinous
* solitudinously

#### See also

* loneliness

### Further reading

* solitude on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* outslide, slideout, toluides

## French
### Etymology

From Old French solitude (13th c.), a borrowing from Latin sōlitūdō.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /sɔ.li.tyd/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

solitude f (plural solitudes)
* solitude
* loneliness
** 1969, “Ma solitude”, in Georges Moustaki (lyrics), Le Métèque, performed by Georges Moustaki:Elle m’a suivi çà et là / Aux quatre coins du monde / Non, je ne suis jamais seul / Avec ma solitudeShe followed me hither and yon / To the four corners of the world / No, I am never alone / With my solitude

#### Derived terms

* drame de la solitude

#### Related terms

* solitaire
* seul

### Further reading

* “solitude”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Old French
### Noun

solitude oblique singular, f (nominative singular solitude)
* solitude

#### Descendants

* → English: solitude
* French: solitude

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sōlitūdō, corresponding to sōlus (“alone”) + -tūdō.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /so.liˈtu.d͡ʒi/
* (Brazil) IPA: /so.liˈtu.d͡ʒi/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /so.liˈtu.de/
* (Portugal) IPA: /su.liˈtu.dɨ/ [su.liˈtu.ðɨ]
* Hyphenation: so‧li‧tu‧de

### Noun

solitude f (plural solitudes)
* solitude
    Synonym: solidão

#### Related terms

* só
* solidão
* solitário