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solitaire

American  
[sol-i-tair] / ˈsɒl ɪˌtɛər /

noun

  1. Also called patience.  any of various games played by one person with one or more regular 52-card packs, part or all of which are usually dealt out according to a given pattern, the object being to arrange the cards in a predetermined manner.

  2. a game played by one person alone, as a game played with marbles or pegs on a board having hollows or holes.

  3. a precious stone, especially a diamond, set by itself, as in a ring.

  4. any of several American thrushes of the genus Myadestes, having short, broad bills and noted for their beautiful songs.

  5. a large extinct flightless bird of the genus Pezophaps, related to the dodo but with a longer neck, smaller bill, and longer legs, that inhabited the Mascarene Islands.

solitaire British  
/ ˌsɒlɪˈtɛə, ˈsɒlɪˌtɛə /

noun

  1. Also called: pegboard.  a game played by one person, esp one involving moving and taking pegs in a pegboard or marbles on an indented circular board with the object of being left with only one

  2. the US name for patience

  3. a gem, esp a diamond, set alone in a ring

  4. any of several extinct birds of the genus Pezophaps, related to the dodo

  5. any of several dull grey North American songbirds of the genus Myadestes: subfamily Turdinae (thrushes)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of solitaire

1350–1400; Middle English < French < Latin sōlitārius solitary

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The team also identified a new solitaire coral, that are described in another study.

From Science Daily • Feb. 2, 2026

According to People Magazine at the time, Affleck proposed with a custom-made Harry Winston pink-diamond solitaire ring.

From Salon • Aug. 22, 2024

It was hoped that her solitaire diamond ring, which was listed for sale between £70,000 to £100,000, would boost the amount for charity, but it did not meet its reserve price.

From BBC • Jan. 23, 2024

“We’re surprised that we could accidentally encounter this astonishing ability with language, by training a machine to play solitaire on all of the internet,” Gruber said.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 14, 2023

George laid out his deliberate solitaire hand— seven cards, and six on top, and five on top of those.

From "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.