alone
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈləʊn/
ipa: /əˈloʊn/
enpr: ə-lōnʹ
ipa: /aˈluŋ/
note: Dublin
ipa: /əˈlʌon/
rhymes: -əʊn
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.
Senses: examples: text: I can't ask for help because I am alone.
text: It is not good that the man should be alone.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis ii:18:
text: Alone on a wide, wide sea.
ref: 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
glosses: By oneself, solitary.
examples: text: Senator Craddock wants to abolish the estate tax, and she's not alone.
text: I always organize my Halloween candy before eating it. Am I alone in this?
text: Hungary's leader is not alone in eastern and southern Europe, where democratically elected populist strongmen increasingly dominate, deploying the power of the state and a battery of instruments of intimidation to crush dissent, demonise opposition, tame the media and tailor the system to their ends.
ref: 2013 August 23, Ian Traynor, “Rise of Europe's new autocrats”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 11, page 1:
text: If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by it all, you’re not alone.
ref: 2021 September 8, Ekua Hagan, “5 Ways to Restore Our Hope”, in Psychology Today:
glosses: Lacking peers who share one's beliefs, experiences, practices, etc.
raw_tags: in the negative
examples: text: There are proofs enough in History, and first that beautiful Hynes, so much beloved by Charles the seventh King of France, who valued the alone possession of her Love at so high a rate, that[…]
ref: 1662, Jacques Olivier, translated by Richard Banke, A Discourse of Women, Shewing Their Imperfections Alphabetically, →OCLC, page 18:
text: God, […] by whose alone power and conversation we all live, and move, and have our being.
ref: 1692, Richard Bentley, [A Confutation of Atheism] (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693:
glosses: Apart from, or exclusive of, others.
examples: text: and therefore all Killing, Banishing, Fining, Imprisoning, and other such things, which Men are afflicted with, for the alone exercise of their Conscience, or difference in Worship or Opinion, proceedeth from the spirit of Cain, the Murderer, and is contrary to the Truth;
ref: 1676, Robert Barclay, An Apology for the True Christian Divinity […] :
glosses: Mere; consisting of nothing further.
examples: text: Pardon me, Proteus, all I can is nothing / To her, whose worth makes other worthies nothing; / She is alone.
ref: c. 1589–1593, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 2, scene 4, lines 163–165:
glosses: Unique; rare; matchless.
Derived terms: alone in the dark
alonely
alonement
aloneness
leave it alone
leave things alone
let it alone
let things alone
quirkyalone
take it or leave it alone