Meaning
English- and French-speaking communities living alongside one another with limited understanding or sympathy. Current in historical, political, and cultural commentary Regional use: Quebec and Canada, especially Eastern and Central Canada.
Origin
The Canadian political and cultural expression was likely coined by Hugh MacLennan's 1945 novel Two Solitudes, which examined tensions between English and French Canadians in Quebec. It quickly escaped the title and became a durable metaphor for French-English relations in Quebec and Canada. Later writers also extend it to other communities, but that broader use depends on the original Canadian bilingual frame.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Canada's two solitudes
- the two solitudes
Usage Examples
- The bilingual station was created to make the city's two solitudes audible to each other.
- Her history of the school board shows that Canada's two solitudes were never entirely separate.