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

Horniness packs side-by-side by with a deeper loneliness along the walls of The Park.
The Craziest Date Night for Single Jews, Where Mistletoe Is Ditched for Shots|Emily Shire|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She spent almost two years in a nursing home – two years of loneliness she would like to forget.
Care Providers Fight for $15 and a Union|Jasmin Almodovar, Shirley Thompson|December 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It suggests that love and loneliness are not separate things.
Wonder Woman’s Creation Story Is Wilder Than You Could Ever Imagine|Tom Arnold-Forster|November 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Should she leave her husband and endure loneliness or tolerate his dalliance and keep a companion for old age?
Ian McEwan's New Novel Keeps Life at Arm's Length|Nick Romeo|September 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST

These include tips on how to avoid boredom, loneliness, frustration, and anxiety.
Zen, Motorcycles, And The Cult of Tech: How Robert Pirsig’s Classic Anticipated the Future|Nathaniel Rich|August 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He remembered standing once before on this very spot, that foreboding of coming loneliness so strangely in his heart.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
At first I almost perished with loneliness, but now that I have a few acquaintances here I am enjoying it.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
It was the starving sense of loneliness, the aching sense of loss, the yearning and the vain desire that made it seem so long.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
Not too big for the fiery old heart that trouble and toil and hunger and loneliness had never quenched.
A Lost Hero|Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward and Herbert D. Ward
And he was a little sorry for himself and the loneliness which, he felt, would be his hereafter; but that was by the way.
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini

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