Word.ws English Dictionary

alone

Syllables: a·lone/əˈləʊn/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northumbria/əˈlɛːn/

alone adjective: by oneself, solitary.

Adjective

alone (not comparable)

  1. (predicative) By oneself, solitary.
    • I can't ask for help because I am alone.
    • It is not good that the man should be alone.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis ii:18
    1. (predicative) Not involved in a romantic relationship.
  2. (predicative) Lacking peers who share one's beliefs, experiences, practices, etc.
    • Senator Craddock wants to abolish the estate tax, and she's not alone.
    • I always organize my Halloween candy before eating it. Am I alone in this?
  3. (obsolete, predicative) Apart from, or exclusive of, others.
    • 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[…]1662, Jacques Olivier, translated by Richard Banke, A Discourse of Women, Shewing Their Imperfections Alphabetically, →OCLC, page 18
    • God, […] by whose alone power and conversation we all live, and move, and have our being.1692, Richard Bentley, [A Confutation of Atheism] (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693
    Synonyms:
    exclusive, sole
  4. (obsolete, predicative) Mere; consisting of nothing further.
    • 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;1676, Robert Barclay, An Apology for the True Christian Divinity […]
    Synonyms:
    simple, only, very, bare, just, mere
  5. (obsolete, predicative) Unique; rare; matchless.
    • Pardon me, Proteus, all I can is nothing / To her, whose worth makes other worthies nothing; / She is alone.c. 1589–1593, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 2, scene 4, lines 163–165

Adverb

alone (not comparable)

  1. (predicative) By oneself; apart from, or exclusive of, others; solo.
    • She walked home alone.
  2. (predicative) Without outside help.
    • The job was too hard for me to do alone.
  3. (predicative) Not permitting anything further; exclusively.
    • The president alone has the power to initiate a nuclear launch.
    • They must be told, that the ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the People alone;1788, James Madison, Federalist No. 46^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Federalist_(Dawson)/45)
  4. (predicative) Not requiring anything further; merely.
    • Oral antibiotics alone won't clear the infection.
    • Except on matters of mere detail, there are perhaps no practical questions, even among those which approach nearest to the character of purely economical questions, which admit of being decided on economical premises alone.1871, John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Principles_of_Political_Economy_(Mill),_vol._1)
  5. (broadly, predicative) Used to emphasize the size or extent of something by selecting a subset.
    • Her wardrobe is huge. She has three racks for blazers alone.
    • The first sentence alone sold me on the book.

alone meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

alone in Hindi

by oneself
अकेला akelā
without company
अकेला akelā

alone in Tamil

தனியாக, தன்னந்தனியாக, துணையின்றி, தனிப்பட்ட நிலையில், ஒப்புயர்வில்லாமல், மட்டும்

alone in Marathi

by oneself
एकटा ekṭā, एकटी ekṭī, एकटे ekṭe

alone in Urdu

by oneself
اَکیلَا akelā, تنہا tanhā
without company
اکیلا akelā
More languagesFewer languages
alone in Bengali
একাকী ekaki
alone in Telugu
ఒంటరి oṇṭari
alone in Malayalam
ഒറ്റക്ക് oṟṟakkŭ, ഒറ്റയ്ക്ക് oṟṟaykkŭ, തനിച്ച് taniccŭ, തനിയെ taniye
alone in Kannada
ತನಿ, ಒಬ್ಬನೇ, ಒಂಟಿಯಾಗಿ, ಏಕಾಂಗಿಯಾದ
alone in Punjabi
کلا kallā, ਅਕੇਲਾ akelā, ਇਕੱਲਾ ikallā, ਕੱਲਾ kallā
alone in Gujarati
એકલું ekalũ
alone in Odia
ଏକଲା Ekaḻā, ଏକା ekā
alone in Sanskrit
एकाकी ekākī
alone in Assamese
অকলে okole
alone in Arabic
وَحِيد waḥīd, مُنْفَرِد munfarid, لحال laḥāl-
alone in Malay
bersendirian
alone in Indonesian
sendiri, sendirian
alone in Persian
تنهایی tanhâyi, تنها tanhâ, یکه yekke
alone in Thai
เดียว diao
alone in Vietnamese
một mình, chỉ, thôi

Examples of alone in a sentence

  • When Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. special forces during a historic raid in his native homeland, he wasn't alone.2026 January 5, Callum Sutherland, “Who Is Cilia Flores? What to Know About Maduro’s Wife Amid Fall of Venezuela's First Couple”, in TIME...
  • If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by it all, you’re not alone.2021 September 8, Ekua Hagan, “5 Ways to Restore Our Hope”, in Psychology Today:
  • The Senate (A.U.C. 514) decreed that the eldest son alone should bear his father's praenomen.1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon...
  • In writing this tale I had in mind not alone to please my young readers, but also to give them a fair picture of life on the ocean as it is to-day,1903, Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys on Land and Sea:

All 40 example sentences with alone

Synonyms of alone

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of alone

Origin of alone

From Middle English allone, from earlier all oon (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. For the different phonological development of alone and one, see the note in one.

Words formed from alone

Phrases with alone

12 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with alone

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about alone

What does alone mean?
Alone means by oneself, solitary.
What is alone in Hindi?
Alone in Hindi is अकेला (akelā). See Alone meaning in Hindi.
How do you use alone in a sentence?
When Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. special forces during a historic raid in his native homeland, he wasn't alone.
What part of speech is alone?
Alone can be an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce alone?
Alone is pronounced /əˈləʊn/ (UK).

Words near alone in the dictionary

  1. alombrados
  2. alomfilimab
  3. Alon
  4. Alona
  5. Alondra Park
  6. alone
  7. alone in a crowd
  8. alonelier
  9. aloneliest
  10. alonely
  11. alonement

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: alone (page history and authors); alone (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); একাকী (Bengali) (page history and authors); ఒంటరి (Telugu) (page history and authors); alone (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); کلا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); એકલું (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-alone.ogg, en-us-alone.ogg.

Cite this entry: “alone.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/alone. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.