Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use solitary in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, adjective

Solitary means one who lives alone, or in solitude; an anchorite, hermit or recluse. Example: “First a solitary blackbird started up, and soon the whole forest was alive with birdsong.”

Examples of solitary by meaning

nounOne who lives alone, or in solitude; an anchorite, hermit or recluse.

  • He was becoming one of the big-time solitaries.1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 24

adjectiveLiving or being by oneself; alone; having no companion present.

  • The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight.2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, archived from the original on 12 Nov 2020, page 55
  • Though we don’t all reach nirvana when we swim, swimming may well be that last refuge from connectivity — and, for some, the only way to find the solitary self.2014 February 14, Bonnie Tsui, “The Self-Reflecting Pool”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2021

adjectivePerformed, passed, or endured alone.

  • a solitary journey
  • a solitary life

adjectiveNot much visited or frequented; remote from society.

  • a solitary residence or place

adjectiveNot inhabited or occupied; without signs of inhabitants or occupation; desolate; deserted.

  • the solitary desert
  • Eldridge closed the despatch-case with a snap and, rising briskly, walked down the corridor to his solitary table in the dining-car.1931, Francis Beeding, “1/1”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps

adjectiveSingle; individual; sole.

  • a solitary example

More sentences with solitary

  • First a solitary blackbird started up, and soon the whole forest was alive with birdsong.From the entry alive
  • We saw a solitary goth hanging out on a ledge by the train station.From the entry goth
  • First a solitary blackbird started up, but soon the whole forest was alive with birdsong.From the entry start up
  • Had Feltram in some of his solitary wanderings and potterings lighted upon hidden treasure?From the entry pottering
  • He was mostly solitary, but enjoyed the occasional visitor.From the entry occasional
  • Unlike other octopus species, which are normally solitary, the larger Pacific striped octopus has been reported as forming groups of up to 40 individuals.From the entry larger Pacific striped octopus
  • Ophions have a very interesting life cycle and are referred to as solitary koinobiont endoparasitoids.2022 August 12, Paula Shrewsbury, “Beneficial of the Week”, in TPM/IPM Weekly Report for Arborists, Landscape Managers & Nursery Managers…. From the entry ophion
  • It was Christmas Eve, so he bought the solitary bear for his wife.2021 September 22, Stephen Roberts, “The writings on the wall...”, in RAIL, number 940, page 74. From the entry teddy bear
  • A dented metal punching bag waiting to be clanged; a solitary object in the rhino's cage.2020, “Zoo”, in Still at the Rough Cusp of Renaissance, performed by Good Fuck. From the entry clang
  • They passed solitary pinyons and collected the nuts when they could to process later.2020, Diane Cook, The New Wilderness, Oneworld Publications, page 303. From the entry pinyon
  • This is because as more solitary vespids are included, the more observed instances of no gains.2018, Patrick K Piekarski et al., “Phylogenomic Evidence Overturns Current Conceptions of Social Evolution in Wasps (Vespidae)”, in…. From the entry vespid
  • Semiferal and free-ranging pet dogs tend to form small packs but may be more solitary.2010, Stanley D. Gehrt, Seth P. D. Riley, Brian L. Cypher, Urban Carnivores: Ecology, Conflict, and Conservation, page 160. From the entry semiferal
  • Pademelons are small kangaroo-like marsupials that prefer solitary nocturnal life in the rainforest.2008, Barbara A. Holzman, Tropical Forest Biomes, page 122. From the entry pademelon
  • They are famililess, solitary, nonconforming individuals, with no ties to anything but the Legion.2003, Tatjana Pavlovic, Despotic Bodies and Transgressive Bodies: Spanish Culture from Francisco Franco to Jesús Franco, page 32. From the entry familyless
  • The distal spikelets are reduced to solitary flowers (anthoids) leaving the raised areole-like elliptical scars when detached.1997, Valentin A. Krassilov, Angiosperm Origins: Morphological and Ecological Aspects, page 94. From the entry anthoid
  • The solitary and relatively anonymous character of monkeywrenching gave that activity a peculiar role within the movement.1995, Martha F. Lee, Earth First!: Environmental Apocalypse, Syracuse University Press, →ISBN, page 55. From the entry monkeywrenching
  • He wanders west as far as Memphis, a solitary migrant upon that flat and pastoral landscape.1985, Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC. From the entry pastoral
  • They've drugged me, beaten and chained me up to the solitary confinement cell bars with metal restraints.1985 December 14, Faron Stone, “Naked Beyond Embarrassment”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 22, page 4. From the entry chain up
  • He had contracted a hammer-toe from his solitary walking about the town.1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 539. From the entry hammer toe
  • We found solitary and clustered zoanthidean anemones, possibly the same we had been seeing in many variations.1951, John Steinbeck, The Log from the Sea of Cortez. From the entry zoanthidean
  • The scene was a solitary lamppost, with a tophatted tippler leaning on it.1950 November 15, “Floats and Bands In Homecoming Pre-Game Parade”, in Stuff, volume 14, number 5, Collegeville, Ind., page four, column 3. From the entry tophatted
  • Always a little aloof, I pursued a solitary course of experimentation; first I tried Peroxide—old Mrs.1946, Kenneth Patchen, Sleepers Awake (ND Paperbook 286), New York, N.Y.: New Directions Publishing Corporation, published 1969, →LCCN…. From the entry baking-powder
  • What felt like a fly crawling down my cheek was a solitary sweatdrop.1944, Arnold Gingrich, Coronet. From the entry sweatdrop
  • Better a whole trainload of invigilators than this grotesque and solitary persecutor!1926, Gerald William Bullett, The Baker's Cart: And Other Tales, page 164. From the entry trainload
  • When was the last time either of those two women allowed one solitary square of chocolate to pass their lips?2026 April 8, Virginia Blackburn, “South African-style anti-shoplifting tactics in London? Starmer should hang head in shame”, in Express. From the entry ridiculous
  • Unlike OTO, A∴A∴ work is traditionally solitary.2019 October 14, Manon Hedenborg White, The Eloquent Blood: The Goddess Babalon and the Construction of Femininities in Western…. From the entry A∴A∴
  • However, we also performed analyses after excluding solitary taxa to check the robustness of the reconstructions to variation in taxon sampling.2018, Patrick K Piekarski et al., “Phylogenomic Evidence Overturns Current Conceptions of Social Evolution in Wasps (Vespidae)”, in…. From the entry taxon
  • For both traits, the Assym.2 model favored reversals as more likely, especially when more solitary vespid taxa were included.2018, Patrick K Piekarski et al., “Phylogenomic Evidence Overturns Current Conceptions of Social Evolution in Wasps (Vespidae)”, in…. From the entry vespid
  • It provoked criticism for its portrayal of a woman who leaves her marriage for life with a solitary traveler.2010, R. Todd Felton, A Journey Into Ireland's Literary Revival, →ISBN, page 213. From the entry traveller
  • I spent seven years locked up in solitary confinement.2007, Dan Clark, The Thrill of Teaching, →ISBN, page 61. From the entry beyond belief
  • The letters were mostly a cri de cœur from isolated and solitary physicists manqués all over the world.2004, Emanuel Derman, My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance, page 14. From the entry manqués

Meaning of solitary

  1. noun One who lives alone, or in solitude; an anchorite, hermit or recluse.
  2. noun The state of being solitary; solitude.
  3. adjective Living or being by oneself; alone; having no companion present.

Full definition of solitary

Questions about solitary in a sentence

How do you use solitary in a sentence?
Solitary is used as a noun and adjective. For example: “First a solitary blackbird started up, and soon the whole forest was alive with birdsong.”
What is a short sentence with solitary?
“a solitary example”
What does solitary mean?
Solitary means one who lives alone, or in solitude; an anchorite, hermit or recluse.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: solitary (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use solitary in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/solitary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.