SOLITARY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Solitary

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/sˈɑlətˌɛri/ Listen

adjective

Solitary adj.

1.

Living or being by one's self; having no companion present; being without associates; single; alone; lonely. "Those rare and solitary, these in flocks." "Hie home unto my chamber, Where thou shalt find me, sad and solitary."

2.

Performed, passed, or endured alone; as, a solitary journey; a solitary life. "Satan... explores his solitary flight."

3.

Not much visited or frequented; remote from society; retired; lonely; as, a solitary residence or place.

4.

Not inhabited or occupied; without signs of inhabitants or occupation; desolate; deserted; silent; still; hence, gloomy; dismal; as, the solitary desert. "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people." "Let that night be solitary; let no joyful voice come therein."

5.

Single; individual; sole; as, a solitary instance of vengeance; a solitary example.

6.

(Bot.) Not associated with others of the same kind.

Solitary ant (Zool.), any solitary hymenopterous insect of the family Mutillidae. The female of these insects is destitute of wings and has a powerful sting. The male is winged and resembles a wasp. Called also spider ant.

Solitary bee (Zool.), any species of bee which does not form communities.

Solitary sandpiper (Zool.), an American tattler (Totanus solitarius).

Solitary snipe (Zool.), the great snipe. (Prov. Eng.)

Solitary thrush (Zool.) the starling. (Prov. Eng.)

noun

Solitary n. One who lives alone, or in solitude; an anchoret; a hermit; a recluse.

See images of 'Solitary'

Etymology of 'Solitary'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Solitary" Quotes from Famous Books

... which descended to the ground stood open. The sight gave me a shock. Within the house those shutters had been opened. I felt the blood turn to ice in my veins and a chill crept along my spine. I thought of that solitary light burning steadily under the roof. I was convinced ...

— At the Villa Rose • A. E. W. Mason

... grandfather, his principal lessons as a student were drawn from the paternal experience, and certainly no professor could more willingly and faithfully save him all the loss of time and patience occasioned by the long and often fruitless groping of the almost solitary Art-student. He was also thus saved from falling into the errors of the school of David. Certainly no great penchant towards the antique is discoverable in his father's works; nor in his own do we find painted casts of Greek statues dressed in the uniforms of the nineteenth ...

— Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects, and Curiosities of Art, (Vol. 2 of 3) • Shearjashub Spooner

... Sara, for whatever she attempted she never failed to accomplish, and it would be well with Garthowen too! "Her ways are blessed," said the girl, clasping her hands, and returning to her solitary breakfast. "The spirits have her in their keeping, that I know, and she will come back and ...

— Garthowen - A Story of a Welsh Homestead • Allen Raine

... constantly tried to impress upon myself. Sometimes, even, I think I have succeeded, under the combined stress of logic and experience. But there comes an unguarded moment, some evening in summer, like this, when I am walking, perhaps, alone in a solitary wood, or in a meadow beside a quiet stream; and suddenly all my work is undone, and I am overwhelmed by a direct apprehension, or what seems at least for the moment to be such, that everything I hear ...

— The Meaning of Good--A Dialogue • G. Lowes Dickinson

... are remarkable in being not only perched each upon a solitary hillock in a vast level or marsh, but in being hillocks in themselves. In the case of Winchelsea there are trees and green spaces to boot, but Rye and its hillock are one; every inch is given over to red brick and grey stone. ...

— Highways & Byways in Sussex • E.V. Lucas

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