SYNONYMS | EXAMPLES | WORD ORIGIN noun a person who is or prefers to be alone, especially one who avoids the company of others: He was always a loner—no one knew him well.
Origin of loner First recorded in
1945–50; lone +
-er1 adjective being alone; without company or accompaniment; solitary; unaccompanied: a lone traveler.
standing by itself or apart; isolated: a lone house in the valley.
sole; single; only: That company constitutes our lone competitor in the field.
unmarried or widowed.
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Origin of lone 1325–75; Middle English; aphetic var of
alone , used attributively
Related forms lone·ness , noun Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for loner Contemporary Examples of loner Fatherless and emotionally needy, du Pont was a loner who sought companionship and adoration—usually at great financial cost.
Nor was Oswald an irrational, discontented Dostoyevskian loner , as some depicted him.
The missing leg is only the most obvious sign that Strike is damaged goods, a loner wounded by life long before he went overseas.
She remained a loner in every sense of the word for most of her political career.
Marlowe was a loner , a private eye in a one-man operation in Los Angeles during the '30s, '40s, and '50s.
Historical Examples of loner It could not have been loner alight: since but little of the lard was consumed.
She hastened to the spring, but fountain and pitcher were no loner there.
It was not loner however until I saw him go into the dance and begin to drink.
He had been a loner for so many years that he found a certain inverse pleasure in following someone else.
From yon blue heaven above us bent, The grand old gardener and his wife Smile at the claims of loner descent.
British Dictionary definitions for loner noun informal a person or animal who avoids the company of others or prefers to be alone
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adjective (prenominal) unaccompanied; solitary
single or isolated a lone house
unmarried or widowed
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Derived Forms loneness , noun Word Origin for lone C14: from the mistaken division of alone into a lone
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for loner n. "one who avoids company," 1946; see lone . Apparently first in U.S. baseball slang (earliest reference is to Ted Williams).
Ted is likable enough in spite of his obsession with his specialty. He is something of a "loner," and he refuses to pal around with his teammates in off hours, but in the clubhouse he does his share of the talking. ["Life" magazine, Sept. 23, 1946] Show More
adj. late 14c., "having no companion, solitary," shortening of alone (q.v.) by weakening of stress or else by misdivision of what is properly all one . The Lone Star in reference to "Texas" is first recorded 1843, from its flag. Lone wolf in the figurative sense is 1909, American English.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
