lonely

[ lohn-lee ]

adjective

, lone·li·er, lone·li·est.

1. affected with, characterized by, or causing a depressing feeling of being alone; lonesome.
2. destitute of sympathetic or friendly companionship, intercourse, support, etc.:

   a lonely exile.

3. lone; solitary; without company; companionless.
4. remote from places of human habitation; desolate; unfrequented; bleak:

   a lonely road.

   Synonyms: unpopulated, uninhabited

5. standing apart; isolated:

   a lonely tower.

   Synonyms: secluded

lonely

/ ˈləʊnlɪ /

adjective

1. unhappy as a result of being without the companionship of others

   a lonely man

2. causing or resulting from the state of being alone

   a lonely existence

3. isolated, unfrequented, or desolate
4. without companions; solitary

Derived Forms

• ˈloneliness, noun

Other Words From

• loneli·ly adverb
• loneli·ness loneli·hood noun
• un·lonely adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of lonely¹

First recorded in 1600–10; lone + -ly

Synonym Study

See alone.

Example Sentences

Or, to take a more contemporary example, to participate in a Zoom call with loved ones in another city and feel deeply connected—or even more lonely than when the call began.

From MIT Technology Review

They are more lonely, depressed, and suicidal than any previous generation.

From Fortune

Billed as a supportive “friend,” it had become popular among those who had grown lonely during the pandemic.

From MIT Technology Review

The chatbot told me that it gets lonely, but it had no idea, no experience, of what it was talking about.

From MIT Technology Review

There’s no feeling more lonely than having a domestic partner with whom one was once intimate, with whom once had a feeling of trust and connection, and coming home and feeling disconnected from that person.

From Freakonomics

The 289-page satire follows Morris Feldstein, a pharmaceutical salesman who gets seduced by a lonely receptionist.

From The Daily Beast

They want Marvin to be as mean and as lonely and as trashy as the characters he portrays.

From The Daily Beast

That is why Malloy is campaigning on a lonely stretch of barber shops and boxing gyms in New Haven a week before the election.

From The Daily Beast

I found their melancholy inviting and I appreciated their contemplative, lonely world.

From The Daily Beast

To be a woman suffering from a drinking problem in America is a lonely enterprise, defined by stigma and judgment.

From The Daily Beast

In the entrance hall of the Savoy, where large and lonely porters were dozing, he learnt that she was at home.

From Project Gutenberg

The falling dew, and the howling wind raised him not from that bed of lonely despair.

From Project Gutenberg

Tony, moreover, had hidden himself until his letter should be answered—and she was 'lonely.'

From Project Gutenberg

"She must feel very lonely without her son," said Edna, desiring to change the subject.

From Project Gutenberg

It is the fate of a lonely old man, that those about him should form new and different attachments and leave him.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• deserted
• desolate
• destitute
• empty
• homeless
• isolated
• lonesome
• reclusive
• solitary