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solitary

solitary

1 7.2
A person who lives alone and avoids the company of others
  • noun
  • /ˈsɑːləˌtɛri/
translation icon : solitario
  • He has always been a solitary, preferring to read books rather than socialize with others.

Examples

  • A solitary can evoke, but cannot fake desire.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • She's she says letters were first invented for comforting such solitary wretches as myself.

  • What is it to be a solitary person?

  • Late in life, he remarked that he had always been a natural solitary.

    Academic text (2014)
  • A very solitary person, but I'm nested within the context of a very happy marriage and so and a business for that matter.

  • Are in fact we becoming more and more a nation of solitaries and and couch potatoes?

  • In fact, Yeats is still writing about a solitary fisherman.

  • Like it seems if you're a person that likes to be a solo Ranger type A, go get a solitary, you know, like workhorse.

  • So I am no longer a solitary exception, and I speak for the vast majority of Hong Kong people who feel they've been let down by the British.

  • Edith Wharton claimed that her friend Henry James was a solitary who could not live alone, and Tadi wrote of Marcel Proust that he was "a recluse who was unable to live alone."

    Academic text (2011)

Synonyms

loner
vssolitary
79 4.2

A person who prefers to be alone and avoids spending time with others

lives alone and tends to avoid company more as a state than choice
hermit
vssolitary
35 6.1

A person who lives alone away from other people, often for religious reasons

lives alone and avoids company without special religious or contemplative reasons
recluse
vssolitary
22 7.8

A person who lives alone and avoids other people

tends to avoid company without deliberate or total social withdrawal
lone wolf
vssolitary
19 5.0

A person who prefers to do things alone rather than with others

lives alone and avoids company, not only about working alone
cave dweller
vssolitary
7.4

A person who lives alone and avoids meeting other people

is a person who lives alone but may still accept some social contact
solitudinarian
vssolitary
  • Archaic
9.9

A person who chooses to live alone away from other people

lives alone and tends to avoid company but not always by choice
lone hand
vssolitary
7.7

A person who prefers to act or be alone without help

refers to living alone and avoiding company rather than just acting alone

Antonyms

29 6.7

A person well known in high society who often goes to parties

1 3.9

Someone who gets energy from being with other people and likes meeting new people

Compounds

Guards keep a prisoner alone and away from other prisoners as punishment or for safety

solitary wave
  • Specialized
9.8

A single wave that travels long distances without changing shape or losing energy

A small North American plant with soft white, woolly flower heads that often grows alone

solitary vireo
  • Archaic
9.5

A small songbird from eastern North America with a blue-grey head and green body that often looks for food alone

How Social

extrovert
7 3.9
solitary
1 7.2
loner
79 4.2
recluse
22 7.8

Surface Forms

solitary singular
solitaries plural

Etymology

Solitary comes from the Latin root solus meaning 'alone', the same root as solo and sole. As a noun for a person, a solitary is someone who lives alone or avoids company, so the origin shows they choose to be 'alone'.