lonely

[ lohn-lee ]

/ ˈloʊn li /

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See synonyms for: lonely / loneliness on Thesaurus.com

adjective, lone·li·er, lone·li·est.

affected with, characterized by, or causing a depressing feeling of being alone; lonesome.

destitute of sympathetic or friendly companionship, intercourse, support, etc.:a lonely exile.

lone; solitary; without company; companionless.

remote from places of human habitation; desolate; unfrequented; bleak: a lonely road.

standing apart; isolated: a lonely tower.

OTHER WORDS FOR lonely

4 uninhabited, unpopulated.

5 secluded.

See synonyms for lonely on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of lonely

First recorded in 1600–10; lone + -ly

synonym study for lonely

1. See alone.

OTHER WORDS FROM lonely

lone·li·ly, adverblone·li·ness, lone·li·hood, nounun·lone·ly, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use lonely in a sentence

He describes himself as “lonelier, but wiser, with a bit of rage in me.”
Meet Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, aka L. Jinny, the Ali G of Evil|Olivia Nuzzi|August 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I do not want to be lonely all my life,” she writes, “but people only make us lonelier by reminding us of God.
Flannery O’Connor’s Desire for God|Jen Vafidis|November 13, 2013|DAILY BEAST
“We have never been more detached from one another, or lonelier,” writer Stephen Marche argued.
Camp Kivu’s Quest to Get Depressed Teens to Disconnect From Social Media|Nina Strochlic|November 5, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The center is a lonely place and getting lonelier with every election.
Why the GOP Won’t Win the Senate|Eleanor Clift|March 2, 2012|DAILY BEAST

We visited it in the fading twilight, and a lonelier, more ghostly place it would be hard to imagine.
British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car|Thomas D. Murphy
Her hope had been to escape loneliness, but with this preposterous secret, she was lonelier than she had ever been before.
The Daughters of Danaus|Mona Caird
We shall be the lonelier and the poorer hereafter for the silence which is to be where George du Maurier might have been.
English Society|George Du Maurier
When there was no fire, it had been lonelier still, and he had found the time hang heavily, on his hands.
In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim|Frances Hodgson Burnett
In lonelier places were rabbits, wild birds inhabited the fields and woods.
The Little Lame Prince|Dinah Maria Mulock

British Dictionary definitions for lonely

lonely

/ (ˈləʊnlɪ) /

adjective -lier or -liest

unhappy as a result of being without the companionship of othersa lonely man

causing or resulting from the state of being alonea lonely existence

isolated, unfrequented, or desolate

without companions; solitary

Derived forms of lonely

loneliness, noun

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

lonely

OTHER WORDS FOR lonely

Origin of lonely

synonym study for lonely

OTHER WORDS FROM lonely

Words related to lonely

How to use lonely in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for lonely

Derived forms of lonely