solitude means aloneness; the state of being alone, solitary, or by oneself. It carries an Arena rating of 1879, earned across 15 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, solitude ranks #279 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #429 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #2,591 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,281 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words.
solitude is pronounced /ˈsɒlɪˌtjuːd/.
Why “solitude” is a great word
The state of being alone, physically and psychically removed from the company of others. Its lineage traces to the Latin sōlus, meaning "alone," crowned with the abstract suffix -tūdō to formalize the condition. Unlike "isolation," which implies a forced or barren severance from the herd, or "loneliness," the aching emotional correlate, solitude is the chosen chamber, neutral in its silence. It is the clean geometry of a single chair in an empty room, the crisp echo of one's own footfall on a forest path, the profound quiet of a library before it opens—a space not defined by absence, but by the presence of an unshared self.
Etymology
From Middle English solitude, from Old French solitude, from Latin sōlitūdō. By surface analysis, sole + -itude.
noun
- Aloneness; the state of being alone, solitary, or by oneself.e.g.“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.” — 1859, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia, page 2:
- A lonely or deserted place.e.g.“Mark where his carnage and his conquests cease!
He makes a solitude, and calls it — peace.” — 1813, Lord Byron, Bride of Abydos, Canto 2, stanza 20:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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