loner
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of loner
Explanation
A loner is someone who prefers being alone to spending time with other people. If you're a loner, you'd rather take a walk in the woods by yourself than go to a party. An extreme kind of loner is a hermit, a person who lives far from society, completely alone, and doesn't interact with anyone. Other loners are simply introverts, people who often need a break from socializing and enjoy spending time on their own. Loner seems to have appeared in the 1940s, originally in "Life" magazine's description of baseball player Ted Williams as "something of a loner (who) refuses to pal around with his teammates."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
One part of his letter struck me as both moving and marvelous: “Since I’m a loner, I don’t have any really close friends, either.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 20, 2026
As a result, unlike what his name would suggest, Unique is a fairly generic loner who dully seeks vengeance.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
His reputation as a genius loner rides on two kinds of art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026
Pretti lived alone and worked long hours as a nurse, but he was not a loner, his neighbours said.
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2026
I wondered if she wanted to be a loner.
From "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea
Both are loners who’d rather avoid the spotlight — particularly at parties.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2025
Following the attacks, Sir Keir Starmer said Britain faced a new threat from "extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms".
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2025
But I found evidence that supports his story where so many loners bare their innermost thoughts: the internet.
From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2025
In Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves,” my favorite film of 2023, a pair of loners find nourishing points of connection in a cruel and grim world: the movies, karaoke and a dog named Chaplin.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 5, 2024
People like Nicole Castro didn’t know loners like me.
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
