English Explanatory Dictionary

alone

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. By oneself, solitary.
  2. Not involved in a romantic relationship.
  3. Lacking peers who share one's beliefs, experiences, practices, etc.
  4. Apart from, or exclusive of, others.
  5. Mere; consisting of nothing further.
  6. Unique; rare; matchless.
adv
  1. By oneself; apart from, or exclusive of, others; solo.
  2. Without outside help.
  3. Focus adverb, typically modifying a noun and occurring immediately after it.
  4. Not permitting anything further; exclusively.
  5. Not requiring anything further; merely.
  6. Used to emphasize the size or extent of something by selecting a subset.

Pronunciation

/əˈləʊn/ En-uk-alone.ogg /əˈloʊn/ ə-lōnʹ en-us-alone.ogg /əˈlon/ /əˈloːn/ /aˈluŋ/ /əˈlʌon/

Word forms

alone

Etymology

From Middle English allone, from earlier all oon (“alone”, literally “all one”), contracted from the Old English phrase eall ān (“completely alone”), equivalent to al- (“all”) + one. Cognate with Scots alane (“alone”), Saterland Frisian alleene (“alone”), West Frisian allinne (“alone”), Dutch alleen (“alone”), Low German alleen (“alone”), German allein (“alone”), Danish alene (“alone”), Swedish allena (“alone”). More at all and one. Regarding the different phonological development of alone and one, see the note in one.

Synonyms

on one's own unaccompanied available single unattached unpartnered deserted forsaken isolated exclusive sole simple only very alone bare just mere nonpareil peerless unparalleled azygous incomparable matchless singular sui generis unequaled unique unmatched unrivalled by one's lonesome solitarily solo by oneself isolatedly lonelily on one's bill on one's lonesome on one's tod singlely singly singlehandedly single-handed single-handedly unaidedly unassisted unassistedly entirely solely exclusively expressly merely purely wholly

Derived words

alonely alonement aloneness bowling alone thesis leave it alone leave things alone let it alone let things alone quirkyalone take it or leave it alone alone in a crowd forever alone go it alone go-it-alone leave alone leave me alone leave well alone leave well enough alone let alone let well alone let well enough alone man shall not live by bread alone misfortunes never come alone sauce-alone stand-alone time alone will tell walk-alone walk alone you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone

Translations

Aramaic: לחוד Belarusian: сам Belarusian: адзі́н Bulgarian: сам Catalan: sol Cherokee: ᎤᏩᏌ Czech: sám Danish: alene Dutch: alleen Egyptian: wa:D36*Z1 Esperanto: sola Finnish: yksinään Finnish: yksinäinen French: seul Galician: só German: allein German: eläi Bavarian German: alloa Ancient Greek: μόνος Hindi: अकेला Hungarian: egyedül Icelandic: einn Indonesian: sendiri Indonesian: sendirian Irish: aonraic Italian: solo Italian: da solo Latin: sōlus Malayalam: ഒറ്റക്ക് Marathi: एकटा Marathi: एकटी Marathi: एकटे Central Sierra Miwok: kéŋ·e-t·i- Occitan: sol Odia: ଏକଲା Old English: ān Pannonian Rusyn: сам Polish: sam Portuguese: sozinho Portuguese: só Romanian: singur Russian: оди́н Russian: сам Sardinian: solu Sicilian: sulu Slovak: sám Spanish: solo Spanish: a solas Swedish: ensam Sylheti: ꠄꠇꠟꠣ
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