alone. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

alone

SYLLABICATION:	a·lone
PRONUNCIATION:	-ln
ADJECTIVE:	1. Being apart from others; solitary. 2. Being without anyone or anything else; only. 3. Considered separately from all others of the same class. 4. Being without equal; unique.
ADVERB:	1. Without others: sang alone while the choir listened. 2. Without help: carried the suitcases alone. 3. Exclusively; only: The burden of proof rests on the prosecution alone.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English : al, all; see all + one, one; see one.
OTHER FORMS:	a·loneness —NOUN
SYNONYMS:	alone, lonely, lonesome, solitary These adjectives describe lack of companionship. Alone emphasizes being apart from others but does not necessarily imply unhappiness: “I am never less alone, than when I am alone” (James Howell). Lonely often connotes painful awareness of being alone: “‘No doubt they are dead,’ she thought, and felt . . . sadder and . . . lonelier for the thought” (Ouida). Lonesome emphasizes a plaintive desire for companionship: “You must keep up your spirits, mother, and not be lonesome because I'm not at home” (Charles Dickens). Solitary often stresses physical isolation that is self-imposed: I thoroughly enjoyed my solitary dinner.


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.