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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Solitude \Sol"i*tude\, n. [F., from L. solitudo, solus alone.
See {Sole}, a.]
1. state of being alone, or withdrawn from society; a lonely
life; loneliness.
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Whosoever is delighted with solitude is either a
wild beast or a god. --Bacon.
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O Solitude! where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face? --Cowper.
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2. Remoteness from society; destitution of company;
seclusion; -- said of places; as, the solitude of a wood.
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The solitude of his little parish is become matter
of great comfort to him. --Law.
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3. solitary or lonely place; a desert or wilderness.
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In these deep solitudes and awful cells
Where heavenly pensive contemplation dwells. --Pope.
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Syn: Syn. Loneliness; soitariness; loneness; retiredness;
recluseness. -- {Solitude}, {Retirement}, {Seclusion},
{Loneliness}.

Usage: Retirement is a withdrawal from general society,
implying that a person has been engaged in its scenes.
Solitude describes the fact that a person is alone;
seclusion, that he is shut out from others, usually by
his own choice; loneliness, that he feels the pain and
oppression of being alone. Hence, retirement is
opposed to a gay, active, or public life; solitude, to
society; seclusion, to freedom of access on the part
of others; and loneliness, enjoyment of that society
which the heart demands.
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O blest retirement, friend to life's decline.
--Goldsmith.
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Such only can enjoy the country who are capable
of thinking when they are there; then they are
prepared for solitude; and in that [the country]
solitude is prepared for them. --Dryden.
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It is a place of seclusion from the external
world. --Bp. Horsley.
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These evils . . . seem likely to reduce it [a
city] ere long to the loneliness and the
insignificance of a village. --Eustace.
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