solitary
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsɑlɪˌtɛɹi/
ipa: /ˈsɒlɪt(ə)ɹi/
Etymology: From Middle English solitarie, borrowed from Latin sōlitārius. Doublet of solitaire.
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, archived from the original on 12 Nov 2020, page 55:
text: 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.
ref: 2014 February 14, Bonnie Tsui, “The Self-Reflecting Pool”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2021:
synonyms: by oneself
on one's own
glosses: Living or being by oneself; alone; having no companion present
examples: text: a solitary journey
text: a solitary life
synonyms: solo
glosses: Performed, passed, or endured alone.
examples: text: a solitary residence or place
synonyms: deavely
lonely
unfrequented
unvisited
glosses: Not much visited or frequented; remote from society
examples: text: the solitary desert
text: How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!
ref: 1769, Bible (King James Version), Lamentations 1.1
text: Eldridge closed the despatch-case with a snap and, rising briskly, walked down the corridor to his solitary table in the dining-car.
ref: 1931, Francis Beeding, “1/1”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps:
synonyms: word: peopleless
word: wasteful
word: beingless
word: desert
word: deserted
word: desolate
word: disinhabited
word: inhabitantless
word: inhabited
word: lifeless
word: peopleless
word: solitary
word: tenantless
word: unhabited
word: uninhabited
word: unoccupied
word: unpeopled
word: unpopulated
word: untenanted
word: vacant
word: wasteful
glosses: Not inhabited or occupied; without signs of inhabitants or occupation; desolate; deserted
synonyms: word: desolate
word: bleak
word: cheerless
word: comfortless
word: bleak
word: dark
word: depressing
word: desolate
word: dire
word: disconsolate
word: dismal
word: doleful
word: dolesome
word: drear
word: drearisome
word: dreary
word: dreich
word: forlorn
word: gayless
word: gray
word: gloomsome
word: gloomy
word: grim
word: joyless
word: lack-laughter
word: lugubrious
word: melancholy
word: mirthless
word: miserable
word: no joke
word: saturnine
word: solemn
word: somber
word: sombre
word: spiritless
word: sullen
word: sunless
word: uncheerful
word: uncheery
word: unhappy
word: unmerry
word: wintry
word: woeful
glosses: Gloomy; dismal, because of not being inhabited.
examples: text: a solitary example
text: 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.
ref: 1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 668:
text: 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.
ref: 2018 December 1, Tom Rostance, “Southampton 2 - 2 Manchester United”, in BBC Sport:
synonyms: word: lone
word: singular
word: individual
word: first and last
word: lone
word: one
word: one and only
word: only
word: single
word: singular
word: sole
word: solitary
word: unitary
glosses: Single; individual; sole.
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: Not associated with others of the same kind.
Derived terms: solitariness
solitary confinement
solitary sandpiper
solitary snipe
solitary thrush
solitary tinamou
solitary vice
solitary wasp
solitary wave