Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for lonely

lonely

[ lohn-lee ]

adjective

, lone·li·er, lone·li·est.
  1. affected with, characterized by, or causing a depressing feeling of being alone; lonesome.
  2. destitute of sympathetic or friendly companionship, intercourse, support, etc.:

    a lonely exile.

  3. lone; solitary; without company; companionless.
  4. remote from places of human habitation; desolate; unfrequented; bleak:

    a lonely road.

    Synonyms: unpopulated, uninhabited

  5. standing apart; isolated:

    a lonely tower.

    Synonyms: secluded



lonely

/ ˈləʊnlɪ /

adjective

  1. unhappy as a result of being without the companionship of others

    a lonely man

  2. causing or resulting from the state of being alone

    a lonely existence

  3. isolated, unfrequented, or desolate
  4. without companions; solitary
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


Discover More

Derived Forms

  • ˈloneliness, noun
Discover More

Other Words From

  • loneli·ly adverb
  • loneli·ness loneli·hood noun
  • un·lonely adjective
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of lonely1

First recorded in 1600–10; lone + -ly
Discover More

Synonym Study

See alone.
Discover More

Example Sentences

Or, to take a more contemporary example, to participate in a Zoom call with loved ones in another city and feel deeply connected—or even more lonely than when the call began.

They are more lonely, depressed, and suicidal than any previous generation.

From Fortune

Billed as a supportive “friend,” it had become popular among those who had grown lonely during the pandemic.

The chatbot told me that it gets lonely, but it had no idea, no experience, of what it was talking about.

There’s no feeling more lonely than having a domestic partner with whom one was once intimate, with whom once had a feeling of trust and connection, and coming home and feeling disconnected from that person.

The 289-page satire follows Morris Feldstein, a pharmaceutical salesman who gets seduced by a lonely receptionist.

They want Marvin to be as mean and as lonely and as trashy as the characters he portrays.

That is why Malloy is campaigning on a lonely stretch of barber shops and boxing gyms in New Haven a week before the election.

I found their melancholy inviting and I appreciated their contemplative, lonely world.

To be a woman suffering from a drinking problem in America is a lonely enterprise, defined by stigma and judgment.

In the entrance hall of the Savoy, where large and lonely porters were dozing, he learnt that she was at home.

The falling dew, and the howling wind raised him not from that bed of lonely despair.

Tony, moreover, had hidden himself until his letter should be answered—and she was 'lonely.'

"She must feel very lonely without her son," said Edna, desiring to change the subject.

It is the fate of a lonely old man, that those about him should form new and different attachments and leave him.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


lone handlonely-hearts