reclusive
rih-KLOO-sivadjMeaning avoiding the company of other people; living alone and apart
Memory hook RE-CLUSE: CLOSED away from everyone. Omar lives alone in a cabin deep in the woods, with the door closed and a sign out front. He is reclusive.
The reclusive painter rarely left her cabin in the woods.
In context The famous author was so reclusive that he had not given an interview in forty years; letters went unanswered, and his gate stayed locked.
Similar solitary, withdrawn, secluded, isolated
Opposite sociable, outgoing, gregarious
From Late Latin reclusus, “shut away,” from re- (back, away) + claudere (to shut).