loneliness
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈloʊnlinəs/
Forms: form: lonelinesses
form: lanelines
Etymology: From lonely + -ness.
Senses: examples: text: Cecilia proposed to her the society of Henrietta, which, glad to catch at any thing that would break into her loneliness, she listened to with pleasure […]
ref: 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne, et al, Volume 5, Book 10, Chapter 5, p. 274:
text: We […] feel deep pity for a man who is condemned to the loneliness of being remarkable […]
ref: 1948, Alan Paton, chapter 21, in Cry, the Beloved Country, New York: Scribner, page 154:
text: Loneliness got a mind of its own
The more people around, the more you feel alone
ref: 1997, Bob Dylan, “Marchin’ to the City”, in The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006:
synonyms: ellingness
lonesomeness
glosses: A feeling of depression resulting from being alone or from having no companions.
examples: text: Hitherto all things that have bin nam’d, were approv’d of God to be very good: lonelines is the first thing which Gods eye nam’d not good […]
ref: 1645, John Milton, Tetrachordon, page 7:
text: 1657, Richard Ligon, A True & Exact History of the Island of Barbados, London: Humphrey Moseley, Dedicatory letter to the Bishop of Salisbury,
[I] was designing a piece of Landscape […] wherein I meant to expresse […] the beauties of the Vegetables, that do adorn that place, in the highest perfection I could: But presently after, being cast into Prison, I was deprived both of light and lonelinesse, two main helpers in that Art […]
text: Wretched as were the little companions in misery he was leaving behind, they were the only friends he had ever known; and a sense of his loneliness in the great wide world sank into the child’s heart for the first time.
ref: 1837 February, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “Treats of Oliver Twist’s Growth, Education, and Board”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], published 1838, →OCLC, page 20:
synonyms: word: aloneness
word: friendlessness
word: aloneness
word: isolation
word: loneliness
word: loneness
word: onehead
word: oneship
word: onlyhood
word: onliness
word: seclusion
word: solitariness
word: solitude
glosses: The condition or state of being alone or having no companions.
examples: text: 1794, Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, London: G.G. & J. Robinson, Volume 4, Chapter 3, p. 50,
[…] as she sat at her bed-side, indulging melancholy reveries, which the loneliness of the hour assisted […]
text: In addition, the very loneliness of the road had its charm for him; since only at rare intervals is house seen by its side, and rarer still living creature encountered upon it.
ref: 1877, Mayne Reid, chapter 4, in Gwen Wynn: A Romance of the Wye, volume 3, London: Tinsley Bros, page 34:
text: The rest was all flat marsh. It would have been a depressing place on a wet evening. Seen under a morning sun, with a fresh wind blowing, and the air filled with the crying of birds, there was something fine and fresh and clean about its loneliness.
ref: 1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 5, in The Silver Chair, New York: Scholastic, published 1987, pages 57–58:
synonyms: unfrequentedness
glosses: The state of being unfrequented or devoid of human activity (of a place or time).
examples: text: […] I see
The mystery of your loneliness, and find
Your salt tears’ head: now to all sense ’tis gross
You love my son […]
ref: c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
glosses: A desire to be alone; disposition to solitude.
Synonyms: word: ellingness
word: forlornness
word: lonelihood
word: loneliness
word: lonesomeness
word: monopathy
Hypernyms: word: sadness
word: solitude
Hyponyms: word: empty nest syndrome
Related terms: word: elengeness