confinement of a prisoner in isolation from other prisoners
<noun.state> he was held in solitary
one who lives in solitude
<noun.person> [ adj ]
characterized by or preferring solitude
<adj.all> a lone wolf a lonely existence a man of a solitary disposition a solitary walk
of plants and animals; not growing or living in groups or colonies
<adj.all> solitary bees
lacking companions or companionship
<adj.all> he was alone when we met him she is alone much of the time the lone skier on the mountain a lonely fisherman stood on a tuft of gravel a lonely soul a solitary traveler
being the only one; single and isolated from others
<adj.all> the lone doctor in the entire county a lonesome pine an only child the sole heir the sole example a solitary instance of cowardice a solitary speck in the sky
devoid of creatures
<adj.all> a lonely crossroads a solitary retreat a trail leading to an unfrequented lake
Solitary \Sol"i*ta*ry\, a. [L. solitarius, fr. solus alone: cf. F. solitaire. See {Sole}, a., and cf. {Solitaire}.] 1. Living or being by one's self; having no companion present; being without associates; single; alone; lonely.
Those rare and solitary, these in flocks. --Milton.
Hie home unto my chamber, Where thou shalt find me, sad and solitary. --Shak.
2. Performed, passed, or endured alone; as, a solitary journey; a solitary life.
Satan . . . explores his solitary flight. --Milton.
3. Not much visited or frequented; remote from society; retired; lonely; as, a solitary residence or place.
4. Not inhabited or occupied; without signs of inhabitants or occupation; desolate; deserted; silent; still; hence, gloomy; dismal; as, the solitary desert.
How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people. --Lam. i. 1.
Let that night be solitary; let no joyful voice come therein. --Job iii. 7.
5. Single; individual; sole; as, a solitary instance of vengeance; a solitary example.
6. (Bot.) Not associated with others of the same kind.
{Solitary ant} (Zo["o]l.), any solitary hymenopterous insect of the family {Mutillid[ae]}. The female of these insects is destitute of wings and has a powerful sting. The male is winged and resembles a wasp. Called also {spider ant}.
{Solitary bee} (Zo["o]l.), any species of bee which does not form communities.
{Solitary sandpiper} (Zo["o]l.), an American tattler ({Totanus solitarius}).
{Solitary snipe} (Zo["o]l.), the great snipe. [Prov. Eng.]
{Solitary thrush} (Zo["o]l.) the starling. [Prov. Eng.]
Solitary \Sol"i*ta*ry\, n. One who lives alone, or in solitude; an anchoret; a hermit; a recluse.
Solitaire \Sol`i*taire"\, n. [F. See {Solitary}.] 1. A person who lives in solitude; a recluse; a hermit. --Pope.
2. A single diamond in a setting; also, sometimes, a precious stone of any kind set alone.
Diamond solitaires blazing on his breast and wrists. --Mrs. R. H. Davis.
3. A game which one person can play alone; -- applied to many games of cards, etc.; also, to a game played on a board with pegs or balls, in which the object is, beginning with all the places filled except one, to remove all but one of the pieces by ``jumping,'' as in draughts.
4. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A large extinct bird ({Pezophaps solitaria}) which formerly inhabited the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigeuz. It was larger and taller than the wild turkey. Its wings were too small for flight. Called also {solitary}. (b) Any species of American thrushlike birds of the genus {Myadestes}. They are noted their sweet songs and retiring habits. Called also {fly-catching thrush}. A West Indian species ({Myadestes sibilans}) is called the {invisible bird}.
As a result, officials built a special cell at the prison in Woodbourne where Bosket spends 23 hours a day in solitary confinement.
He talks of beatings and of months blindfolded in solitary confinement for twice trying to escape.
'France is in a solitary position,' Mr Soisson said.
In solitary, bitterness is the enemy.
Tax officials announced that they were extending by 10 days the detention in solitary confinement of Mr Mavrodi, who is accused of tax evasion.
He has been held in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison outside Beijing.
As a "special regime" prisoner, Niklus spent most of his time in solitary.
I still recall triumphantly counting 17 pumpkin seeds on my plate of lettuce, beet and cabbage salad one evening. By day two, bets are being wagered that the solitary Englander is not going to make it, least of all with the cigarettes.
Raymond Barre campaigned as a solitary figure in 1988, and scored a respectable 17 per cent, but he could not be elected.
He led a solitary existence at a New Hampshire attraction until he was purchased by The Zoo in this Florida Panhandle city three months before Muke's arrival on breeding loan from the St. Louis Zoo.
A solitary building stands on the far corner of the once teeming and elegant Potsdamer Platz, now a desolate no man's land overlooking a jagged corner of the Berlin Wall.
Pujals was in solitary confinement during much of his imprisonment, said Rep. John Bryant, D-Texas, who worked with the Human Rights Project to win Pujals' freedom and appealed personally to Castro for Pujals' release during a 1987 visit to Cuba.
Suttner spent much of his detention in solitary confinement and was allowed a half-hour visit from his brother or sister every two weeks.
A report datelined Tehran and distributed yesterday by the South-North News Service, a small agency with offices in New Hampshire, quoted an unnamed source in the Iranian intelligence agency as saying Mr. Seib was being held in solitary confinement.
Rough treatment and solitary confinement are the penalties for not cooperating with police interrogators.
On Benson Street, there is a solitary figure in a red T-shirt, crouched on the sidewalk, eating garbage.
Three prisoners who allegedly took part in the riot were placed in solitary confinement.
A federal judge has ruled in favor of prison administrators who put an inmate writer in solitary confinement after he criticized the warden in print.
Campos was stabbed with the sharpened bone from a T-bone steak that had been served the previous night to Menendez and other inmates in solitary confinement, according to court testimony.
Tejas said his month on the mountain reinforced his conviction that people are not solitary creatures at heart.
Her days were taken up in solitary journeys to the market, the dry cleaners, to her 6-year-old daughter's school.
The three were held in solitary confinement for seven months after their arrest.
By many accounts, Judge Souter is a solitary man who loves his books.
The irony is that no composer is more of an individual than Tavener, treading the solitary path of spiritual self-discovery. His music may be repetitive like theirs, but it has arrived at this destination from a different place and for different reasons.
"After seven official interrogations and two years in solitary they never proved anything against me," she said.
The drama of doomed, solitary Gordon making a dinner companion of a mouse in besieged Khartoum competes for space with overlong discussion of intrigues in Gladstone-era Britain.
Akishino's father, the then crown prince, Akihito, had had a rather lonely boyhood, being groomed to take over the solitary post of emperor.
Ms. Menigon and three other Direct Action leaders, Joelle Aubron, Georges Cipriani and Jean-Marc Rouillan, have been on a hunger strike since Dec. 1, demanding an end to their solitary confinement.
In West Germany, Joseph Werner of Setauket, N.Y., spent Christmas Eve in a solitary vigil on the western side of the Berlin Wall, distributing small black paper flags in what he said was a protest against the forced division of many German families.
Public concern over potential health hazards has blocked operation of the Kremlin's solitary chemical-weapons disposal plant in Chapayevsk, south of Moscow.