[sol.i.tude] n [ME, fr. MF, fr. L solitudin-, solitudo, fr. solus] (14c) 1: the quality or state of being alone or remote from society: seclusion
2: a lonely place (as a desert) syn solitude, isolation, seclusion mean the state of one who is alone. solitude may imply a condition of being apart from all human beings or of being cut off by wish or circumstances from one's usual associates "a few quiet hours of solitude". isolation stresses detachment from others often involuntarily "the isolation of the village in winter". seclusion suggests a shutting away or keeping apart from others often connoting deliberate withdrawal from the world or retirement to a quiet life "lived in pastoral seclusion".