loner

American  

[loh-ner] / ˈloʊ nər /

noun

1. 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.

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loner British  

/ ˈləʊnə /

noun

1. informal a person or animal who avoids the company of others or prefers to be alone

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Etymology

Origin of loner

First recorded in 1945–50; lone + -er ¹

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

It tells the story of a lonely woman who uses a magical spray to improve her life and finds romance with a fellow loner.

From BBC • Feb. 18, 2026

Since I’m a loner, I don’t have any really close friends, either.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 12, 2026

Through the first two films in Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s planned trilogy, the audience comes to know him as a reserved loner who prizes calm.

From Salon • Jan. 23, 2026

Now the loner who rarely leaves his house is a bearded traveler making his way across a forbidding Tolkien-on-acid landscape.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 8, 2026

My mother said he was like that, a loner, a man who did not like to show his feelings.

From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya

Related Words

• hermit
• outsider