These words refer to being alone with others or by oneself, without danger of being seen, overheard or interrupted. Privacy adds to this general meaning strongly positive overtones of freedom and intimacy, such as a person has in his own home, whether by himself, with his family or with chosen friends: eavesdropping devices that threaten the privacy of the home; a court decision affirming a married couple’s right to privacy . When used outside the context of the home, the word suggests conditions approaching this state, often presented as a luxury or added feature: the privacy afforded by a box at the theatre; a large ward of the hospital that permitted the patients little privacy ; asking where they could go to talk in privacy . In one of its senses, seclusion is an intensification of privacy , suggesting a situation offering even greater protection from interference than one’s own home: preferring to work in the seclusion of his mountain retreat. Also, seclusion suggests surroundings that protect, separate or shield one from any sort of notice, whereas privacy may give practical but not total protection: feeling free to talk in the privacy of their railway compartment, though their seclusion was rendered incomplete by an uncovered window that looked directly out on to the corridor. In a more specialized and not necessarily positive sense, the word suggests a deliberate hiding from the outside world, either to meet with, evade or wait for someone: the grove of trees that gave seclusion to the lover’s lane; seeking seclusion from their enemy in the hidden cave; waiting to ambush him from the seclusion of the shadowed alley.

Isolation can function like seclusion , but it can also stress the state of being completely cut off from the outside world, whether by compulsion, choice or circumstance: keeping the kidnapped family in isolation by removing them to a deserted farmhouse. As can be seen, isolation may suggest the condition of being utterly and involuntarily alone or cut off from others. While the previous pair of words can suggest freedom from interference or harm, only isolation , of the three, can suggest inaccessibility to help or aid. Less strictly taken, the word still refers more sternly to total exclusion of the external: hoping her friends would understand her insistence on complete isolation during the period of mourning; erratic ferry service that contributed to the island’s sense of isolation from the mainland; the isolation of the slums from the rest of the city.

Solitude can be a more positive and high toned substitute for isolation , but mostly in the latter’s voluntary senses: longing for the off-season solitude of a seaside resort. In an extended sense, the word can refer more generally to the stillness or peacefulness of a setting: the lofty solitude of the mountain peaks. Withdrawal places its emphasis on an act rather than a state, stressing the voluntary removal of oneself from distraction or, less positively, the rejection of the outside world: his withdrawal each night into the privacy of his home; their self-preoccupied withdrawal into their own affairs. The movement suggested by the word need not be from public view into seclusion but from one place to anywhere else: a withdrawal from his home life into the concerns of his hectic office life. In a psychological sense, withdrawal has become a fad word for any indication of introversion or introspection, even extending to catatonic or autistic states: the boy’s withdrawal from the other students.

SEE; escape, leave, loneliness, lonely, modest.