Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

alone

[uh-lohn]
See more synonyms for alone on Thesaurus.com
adjective (used predicatively)
  1. separate, apart, or isolated from others: I want to be alone.
  2. to the exclusion of all others or all else: One cannot live by bread alone.
  3. unique; unequaled; unexcelled: He is alone among his peers in devotion to duty.
Show More
adverb
  1. solitarily; solely: She prefers to live alone.
  2. only; exclusively.
  3. without aid or help: The baby let go of the side of the crib and stood alone.
Show More
Idioms
  1. leave alone,
    1. to allow (someone) to be by himself or herself: Leave him alone—he wants to rest.
    2. to refrain from annoying or interfering with: The youngsters wouldn't leave the dog alone, and he finally turned on them.
  2. let alone,
    1. to refrain from annoying or interfering with.
    2. not to mention: He was too tired to walk, let alone run.
  3. let well enough alone, to be satisfied with the existing situation; refrain from attempting to change conditions: Marriages are often destroyed by relatives who will not let well enough alone.
Show More

Origin of alone

1250–1300; Middle English al one all (wholly) one
Related formsa·lone·ness, noun

Synonyms

See more synonyms for alone on Thesaurus.com
1. single, solitary; unaccompanied, unattended.

Synonym study

1. Alone, lone, lonely, lonesome all imply being without companionship or association. Alone is colorless unless reinforced by all; it then suggests solitariness or desolation: alone in the house; all alone on an island. Lone is somewhat poetic or is intended humorously: a lone sentinel. Lonely implies a sad or disquieting feeling of isolation. Lonesome connotes emotion, a longing for companionship.

Antonyms

1. accompanied.

Usage note

7, 8. See leave1.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for aloneness

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • It was a habit of his years of aloneness, this talking to a creature that could make no answer.

    The Country Beyond

    James Oliver Curwood

  • But I have need of all my peculiar genius to show you my individuality—my aloneness.

  • It was that I felt my aloneness, my foreignness to all things.

  • He retreated into his aloneness until there was nothing but himself.

    Ye of Little Faith

    Roger Phillips Graham

  • Terrible is aloneness with the judge and avenger of one's own law.

    Thus Spake Zarathustra

    Friedrich Nietzsche

British Dictionary definitions for aloneness

alone

adjective, adverb (postpositive)
  1. apart from another or others; solitary
  2. without anyone or anything elseone man alone could lift it
  3. without equal; uniquehe stands alone in the field of microbiology
  4. to the exclusion of others; onlyshe alone believed him
  5. leave alone, leave be, let alone or let be to refrain from annoying or interfering with
  6. leave well alone, leave well enough alone, let well alone or let well enough alone to refrain from interfering with something that is satisfactory
  7. let alone much less; not to mentionhe can't afford beer, let alone whisky
Show More

Word Origin

Old English al one, literally: all (entirely) one
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

Word Origin and History for aloneness

alone

adj., adv.

c.1300 contraction of all ane, from Old English all ana "unaccompanied, all by oneself," from all "all, wholly" (see all) + an "one" (see one). Similar compounds are found in German (allein) and Dutch (alleen).

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with aloneness

alone

see go it alone; leave someone alone; leave well enough alone; let alone.

Show More
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.