lone wolf

[lohn woo lf]

See more synonyms for lone wolf on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person who prefers to live, act, or work alone or independent of others.
a criminal who acts alone (often used attributively): lone-wolf terrorists.

Origin of lone wolf

An Americanism dating back to 1905–10

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for lone wolf

hermit, independent, individualist, loner, nonconformist, outsider, pariah, solitary, separatist

Examples from the Web for lone wolf

Contemporary Examples of lone wolf

And his lone-wolf status may never be more apparent than at the bottom of his legal notice to Ferguson Mayor James Knowles.
The Black Panther Bomb Plot in St. Louis That Wasn’t
Justin Glawe
December 9, 2014

Historical Examples of lone wolf

I never was much on this lone-wolf dodgin', though I've done it of necessity.
The Lone Star Ranger
Zane Grey
The lone-wolf motive sang seductively in his seventeen-year-old ears.
Rough-Hewn
Dorothy Canfield
But did one hear the lone-wolf howl as our fellows went filing down the gang-planks?
The Glory of The Coming
Irvin S. Cobb
It is a pity the untamable, lone-wolf souls should always become pariahs, almost of choice: mere scamps.
Sea and Sardinia
D. H. Lawrence
He was succeeded by Gi-pgo, "Lone-wolf," adopted father of the present chief of the same name.
Calendar history of the Kiowa Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 129-444))
James Mooney

British Dictionary definitions for lone wolf

lone wolf

noun

a person who prefers to be alone

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

Idioms and Phrases with lone wolf

lone wolf

A person who prefers to do without the company or assistance of others. For example, Her nursery school teacher described Beth as a lone wolf, an assessment her parents found astonishing. This expression alludes to the tendency of some species of wolf to hunt alone rather than in packs. [c. 1900]