Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - solitary

 I. adjective  Etymology: Middle English, solitarie, from Anglo-French, from Latin solitarius, from solitas aloneness, from solus alone  Date: 14th century  1.  a. being, living, or going alone or without companions  b. saddened by isolation  2. unfrequented, desolate a ~ seashore  3.  a. taken, passed, or performed without companions a ~ ramble  b. keeping a prisoner apart from others ~ confinement  4. being at once single and isolated a ~ example  5.  a. occurring singly and not as part of a group or cluster flowers terminal and ~  b. not gregarious, colonial, social, or compound ~ bees  Synonyms: see alone  • solitarily adverb  • solitariness noun  II. noun  (plural -taries)  Date: 15th century  1. one who lives or seeks to live a ~ life ; recluse  2. ~ confinement in prison put him in ~