1.  solitary(n = noun.state) solitary confinement - confinement of a prisoner in isolation from other prisoners; "he was held in solitary"
is a kind of confinement

2.  solitary(n = noun.person) hermit, recluse, solitudinarian, troglodyte - one who lives in solitude;
is a kind of lone hand, lone wolf, loner
has particulars: john the baptist, st. john the baptist
Derived form adjective solitary₁

1.  solitary(s = adj.all) lone, lonely - characterized by or preferring solitude; "a lone wolf"; "a lonely existence"; "a man of a solitary disposition"; "a solitary walk"
Derived forms noun solitariness₂, noun solitary₂

2.  solitary(s = adj.all) nongregarious, nonsocial - of plants and animals; not growing or living in groups or colonies; "solitary bees"
Derived form noun solitariness₁

3.  solitary(s = adj.all) alone, lone, lonely - lacking companions or companionship; "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"
Derived form noun solitariness₁

4.  solitary(s = adj.all) lone, lonesome, only, sole - being the only one; single and isolated from others; "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"

5.  solitary(s = adj.all) lonely, unfrequented - devoid of creatures; "a lonely crossroads"; "a solitary retreat"; "a trail leading to an unfrequented lake"

1.  Living or being by one's self; having no companion present; being without associates; single; alone; lonely. [1913 Webster]
"Those rare and solitary, these in flocks." [1913 Webster]
"Hie home unto my chamber,
Where thou shalt find me, sad and solitary." [1913 Webster]

2.  Performed, passed, or endured alone; as, a solitary journey; a solitary life. [1913 Webster]
"Satan . . . explores his solitary flight." [1913 Webster]

3.  Not much visited or frequented; remote from society; retired; lonely; as, a solitary residence or place. [1913 Webster]

4.  Not inhabited or occupied; without signs of inhabitants or occupation; desolate; deserted; silent; still; hence, gloomy; dismal; as, the solitary desert. [1913 Webster]
"How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people." [1913 Webster]
"Let that night be solitary; let no joyful voice come therein." [1913 Webster]

5.  Single; individual; sole; as, a solitary instance of vengeance; a solitary example. [1913 Webster]

6.  Not associated with others of the same kind. [1913 Webster]

   One who lives alone, or in solitude; an anchoret; a hermit; a recluse. [1913 Webster]

solitary, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 living alone; not gregarious; without companions; lonely (a solitary existence).
2 (of a place) secluded or unfrequented.
3 single or sole (a solitary instance).
4 (of an insect) not living in communities.
5 Bot. growing singly, not in a cluster.
--n. (pl. -ies)
1 a recluse or anchorite.
2 colloq. = solitary confinement.

Idiom:
solitary confinement isolation of a prisoner in a separate cell as a punishment.

Derivative:
solitarily adv. solitariness n.

Etymology:
ME f. L solitarius f. solus alone

N  unity, oneness, individuality, solitude, isolation, unification, one, unit, ace, individual, none else, no other, one, sole, single, solitary, unitary, individual, apart, alone, kithless, unaccompanied, unattended, solus, single-handed, singular, odd, unique, unrepeated, azygous, first and last, isolated, insular, monospermous, unific, uniflorous, unifoliate, unigenital, uniliteral, unijocular, unimodal, unimodular, lone, lonely, lonesome, desolate, dreary, insecable, inseverable, indiscerptible, compact, indivisible, atomic, irresolvable, singly, alone, by itself, per se, only, apart, in the singular number, in the abstract, one by one, one at a time, simply, one and a half, sesqui-, natura il fece, e poi roppe la stampa, du fort au faible, two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one.

N  exclusion, nonadmission, omission, exception, rejection, repudiation, exile, noninclusion, preclusion, prohibition, separation, segregation, seposition, elimination, expulsion, cofferdam, excluding, exclusive, excluded, unrecounted, not included in, inadmissible, exclusive of, barring, except, with the exception of, save, bating, exclusion, seclusion, exclusion, seclusion, privacy, retirement, reclusion, recess, snugness, delitescence, rustication, rus in urbe, solitude, solitariness, isolation, loneliness, estrangement from the world, voluntary exile, aloofness, cell, hermitage, convent, sanctum sanctorum, depopulation, desertion, desolation, wilderness, howling wilderness, rotten borough, Old Sarum, exclusion, excommunication, banishment, exile, ostracism, proscription, cut, cut direct, dead cut, inhospitality, inhospitableness, dissociability, domesticity, Darby and Joan, recluse, hermit, eremite, cenobite, anchoret, anchorite, Simon Stylites, troglodyte, Timon of Athens, Santon, solitaire, ruralist, disciple of Zimmermann, closet cynic, Diogenes, outcast, Pariah, castaway, pilgarlic, wastrel, foundling, wilding, secluded, sequestered, retired, delitescent, private, bye, out of the world, out of the way, the world forgetting by the world forgot, snug, domestic, stay-at-home, unsociable, unsocial, dissocial, inhospitable, cynical, inconversable, unclubbable, sauvage, troglodytic, solitary, lonely, lonesome, isolated, single, estranged, unfrequented, uninhabitable, uninhabited, tenantless, abandoned, deserted, deserted in one's utmost need, unfriended, kithless, friendless, homeless, lorn, forlorn, desolate, unvisited, unintroduced, uninvited, unwelcome, under a cloud, left to shift for oneself, derelict, outcast, banished, noli me tangere, among them but not of them, and homeless near a thousand homes I stood, far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, makes a solitude and calls it peace, magna civitas magna solitudo, never less alone than when alone, O sacred solitude! divine retreat!.

solitary confinement, solitary pussytoes, solitary vireo, solitary wave