Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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 state of being alone, or withdrawn from society; a lonely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.

            Whosoever is delighted with solitude is either a
            wild beast or a god.                  --Bacon.

            O Solitude! where are the charms That sages have
            seen in thy face?                     --Cowper.

   2. Remoteness from society; destitution of company;
      seclusion; -- said of places; as, the solitude of a wood.

            The solitude of his little parish is become matter
            of great comfort to him.              --Law.

   3. solitary or lonely place; a desert or wilderness.

            In these deep solitudes and awful cells Where
            heavenly pensive contemplation dwells. --Pope.

   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.

                O blest retirement, friend to life's decline.
                                                  --Goldsmith.

                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.

                It is a place of seclusion from the external
                world.                            --Bp. Horsley.

                These evils . . . seem likely to reduce it [a
                city] ere long to the loneliness and the
                insignificance of a village.      --Eustace.

Source : WordNet®

solitude
     n 1: a state of social isolation [syn: {purdah}]
     2: a solitary place
     3: a disposition toward being alone [syn: {aloneness}, {loneliness},
         {lonesomeness}]