Retirement, n.
Etymology: [Cf. F. retirement.]
1. The act of retiring, or the state of being retired; withdrawal; seclusion; as, the retirement of an officer. O, blest Retirement, friend of life's decline. Goldsmith. Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books. Thomson.
2. A place of seclusion or privacy; a place to which one withdraws or retreats; a private abode. [Archaic] This coast full of princely retirements for the sumptousness of their buildings and nobleness of the plantations. Evelyn. Caprea had been the retirement of Augustus. Addison.
Syn. -- Solitude; withdrawment; departure; retreat; seclusion; privacy. See Solitude.
Shades of meaning
In retirement one withdraws from association he has had with others; we speak of the retirement of a public man to private life, tho he may still be much in company. In seclusion one shuts himself away from the society of all except intimate friends or attendants; in solitude no other person is present. While seclusion is ordinarily voluntary, solitude may be enforced; we speak of the solitude rather than the seclusion of a prisoner. As "private" denotes what concerns ourselves individually, privacy denotes freedom from the presence or observation of those not concerned or whom we desire not to have concerned in our affairs; privacy is more commonly temporary than seclusion; we speak of a moment's privacy. There may be loneliness without solitude, as amid an unsympathizing crowd, and solitude without loneliness, as when one is glad to be alone.