solitary

adj

Etymology: From Middle English solitarie, borrowed from Latin sōlitārius. Doublet of solitaire.

1. Living or being by oneself; alone; having no companion present

   “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.”

   “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.”

2. Performed, passed, or endured alone.

   “a solitary journey”

   “a solitary life”

3. Not much visited or frequented; remote from society

   “a solitary residence or place”

4. Not inhabited or occupied; without signs of inhabitants or occupation; desolate; deserted

   “the solitary desert”

   “How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!”

5. Gloomy; dismal, because of not being inhabited.
6. Single; individual; sole.

   “a solitary example”

   “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.”

7. Not associated with others of the same kind.

noun

1. Archaic form of solitaire (“Rodrigues solitaire”).