Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Being apart from others; solitary.
- adj. Being without anyone or anything else; only.
- adj. Considered separately from all others of the same class.
- adj. Being without equal; unique.
- adv. Without others: sang alone while the choir listened.
- adv. Without help: carried the suitcases alone.
- adv. Exclusively; only: The burden of proof rests on the prosecution alone.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Apart from another or others; single or singly; solitary or solitarily; without the aid or company of another: applied to a person or thing: as, to be or remain alone; to walk alone.
- Only; to the exclusion of other persons or things; sole or solely: as, he alone remained. In this sense alone is sometimes used attributively before a noun.
- Without a parallel; above or beyond all others; unique.
- Devoid; destitute.
- In each of these examples only would now be considered better, though not alone for not only is in common use. Alone means unaccompanied: as, he stood alone. Only applies to that of which there is no other: as, an only son; adverbially, only this.
Wiktionary
- adj. By one's self, solitary.
- adj. Apart from, or exclusive of, others.
- adj. Considered separately.
- adj. Without equal.
- adv. By one's self; apart from, or exclusive of, others; solo.
- adv. Without outside help.
- adv. Exclusively.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Quite by one's self; apart from, or exclusive of, others; single; solitary; -- applied to a person or thing.
- adj. Of or by itself; by themselves; without any thing more or any one else; without a sharer; only.
- adj. rare Sole; only; exclusive.
- adj. Hence; Unique; rare; matchless.
- adv. Solely; simply; exclusively.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. without anybody else or anything else
- adv. without any others being included or involved
- adj. exclusive of anyone or anything else
- adj. lacking companions or companionship
- adj. radically distinctive and without equal
- adj. isolated from others
Etymologies
- From Middle English al one ("alone", literally "all one"), contracted from the Old English phrase eall āna ("entirely alone, solitary, single"), equivalent to al- (“all”) + one. Cognate with Scots allane ("alone"). Compare also West Frisian allinne ("alone"), Dutch alleen ("alone"), German allein ("alone"), Danish alene ("alone"). More at all, one. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English : al, all; see all + one, one; see one. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And then -- Ah, there is something terrible in being alone -- _alone_!”
“_Never less alone than when alone_ is a true maxim; but not for travelling; a pleasant companion adds a hundredfold to the pleasures of the journey, especially when the friendship is strong enough to stand the occasional strains on the temper which must occur along wild untrodden paths.”
“Thou art here alone, none knowing, and I-- I _alone_ can save thee.”
“Granting _alleyn_ to be rightly put for alone, no ancient writer, I apprehend, ever used such a phrase as this; any more than we should now say -- _my son alone_ for _my only son_.”
“We know that we must fight the battle of life and duty alone, we know that we bear our sorrows and bereavements alone, we know that alone we must die, and be judged, and yet, as Christians, we know that Jesus will never leave us, nor forsake us, that He is with us even unto the end of the world, and that when most solitary we are _alone with God_.”
The Life of Duty, v. 2 A year's plain sermons on the Gospels or Epistles
“But the fact of your being here, before me, alone, do you understand, _alone_ in the presence of Arsène”
The Blonde Lady Being a Record of the Duel of Wits between Arsène Lupin and the English Detective
“I was alone in my bedroom, _and yet I was not alone_!”
“Alas! alas! almost alone, except a few -- to their everlasting honor -- poor faithful women -- _alone!”
Godliness : being reports of a series of addresses delivered at James's Hall, London, W. during 1881
“She could have cried out with anguish for that soul, which, in the midst of its careless pride and criminal indifference, had been summoned by an inexorable decree to the tribunal of judgment! where it appeared _alone -- alone -- alone_, to be weighed in the balance of justice.”
“We cannot forget moreover that the two former of these copies enjoy the unenviable distinction of standing alone on a memorable occasion: -- they _alone_ exhibit St. Mark's Gospel mutilated in respect of its twelve concluding verses.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘alone’.
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EN - Glasgow stop list
Words to be replaced by a paragraph mark if you are after terms and MWEs.
about, above, across, after, afterwards, again, against, all, almost, alone, along, already and 291 more...
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FUN - Beatles song titles
Typical words from Beatles song titles. Can you recreate the titles?
(Grammatical words have been omitted)another, three, place, work, eyes, new, said, give, face, day, going, like and 388 more...
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Kangaroo Words
Words containing letters in sequence, together or apart, that form a definition or instance of the subsuming word. E.g., conTAmINaTe = the kangaroo word. TAINT = the joey. Theme from a NYT X-word ...
encourage, chariot, precipitation, neurotic, feaster, unsightly, charisma, inheritor, masculine, honorable, contaminate, regulate and 103 more...
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
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Words Heard Too Often In Songs
Words overused in modern pop music.
Also see ruzuzu's list: Words that should be heard in songs more often.love, heart, dance, dancefloor, down, take, want, night, fight, baby, like, ooooh and 136 more...
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Introverted
Quiet, shy, Introverted, reserved, isolated, mysterious
abashed, alienated, alone, anonymous, antisocial, ascetic, asocial, austere, autonomous, awkward, bashful, clannish and 91 more...
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Ending
satan, treason, foreign tension, blacken, reason, hidden, intentions, fallen demon, diction, slogan, jargon, sermon and 27 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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no little thing
it bothers me when i hear someone who have experienced something life changing use the phrase: now i appreciate the little things. I DON'T BELIEVE THERE ARE ANY LITTLE THINGS. everything is EXTRAOR...
letters, living, understand, narrow, behavior, personal, need, meant, untamed, world, soldier, 'cause and 241 more...
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him and i
peach, left, alone, abandon, horid, gay, bloody, beautiful, outside, inside, confused, unconditional and 111 more...
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Miss Sunshine
she's such a joy.
bereaved, bitter, cheerless, dejected, depressed, despairing, despondent, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, doleful, downcast and 405 more...
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classic695's Words
delighted, elated, energetic, excited, enthusiastic, elevated, happy, contented, fine, pleased, satisfied, compassionate and 168 more...
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Two years
Okay, I admit it. I made a list of words my daughter knew when she was two years old.
bat, baba, a, abalone, about, acorn, adrienne, after, again, airplane, alison, all and 694 more...
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Cage
cage, depart, nothing, void, strain, unconscious, never, alone, floor, God, hell, winter and 219 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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feeling words
twitterpated, loquacious, ambiguous, pensive, sluggish, anxious, adventurous, curious, abandoned, absent-minded, abrasive, abused and 653 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for alone.
oroboros Al - O - Ne (aluminum, oxygen, neon)
Feb 2, 2013
tbtabby Means "halo" in Italian. Jul 13, 2009
oroboros aLONE. lONE Apr 26, 2008