alone
Syllables: a·lone/əˈləʊn/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northumbria/əˈlɛːn/
alone adjective: by oneself, solitary.
Adjective
alone (not comparable)
- 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
- Synonyms:
- on one's own, unaccompanied
- Not involved in a romantic relationship.
- 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?
- 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
- 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 […]
- 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
- Synonyms:
- nonpareil, peerless, unparalleled, azygous, incomparable, matchless, only, singular, sui generis, unequaled
Adverb
alone (not comparable)
- By oneself; apart from, or exclusive of, others; solo.
- She walked home alone.
- Synonyms:
- by one's lonesome, solitarily, solo, by oneself, isolatedly, lonelily, on one's bill, on one's lonesome, on one's tod, singlely
- Without outside help.
- The job was too hard for me to do alone.
- 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)
- 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)
- 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:
Synonyms of alone
- on one's own
- unaccompanied
- available
- single
- unattached
- unpartnered
- deserted
- forsaken
- isolated
- exclusive
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
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
- all alone
- alonely
- alonement
- aloneness
- aloner
- bowling alone thesis
- leave it alone
- leave things alone
- let it alone
- let things alone
- nonalone
- quirkyalone
- take it or leave it alone
- unalone
- alone in a crowd
- forever alone
- go it alone
- go-it-alone
- leave alone
- leave me alone
- leave well alone
- leave well enough alone
- let alone
- let well alone
- let well enough alone
- man shall not live by bread alone
- misfortunes never come alone
- sauce-alone
- stand-alone
- time alone will tell
- walk-alone
- walk alone
- you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone
Phrases with alone
Words that rhyme with alone
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- throne
- atone
- clone
- crone
- prone
- depone
- hone
- loan
- cologne
- condone
- disenthrone
- disown
- eau de cologne
- enthrone
- groan
- intone
- roan
- Sloan
- Sloane
- thrown
- unknown
- bemoan
- cobblestone
- Copplestone
- grown
- joan
- known
- none
- overgrown
- pension
- phone
- postpone
- redstone
- sone
- Stallone
- answer phone
- arthron
- beknown
- cauterizing stone
- compone
- crosne
- crown
- cuboidal bone
- cuttlefish bone
- Ediphone
- enzone
- flown
- Four Shire Stone
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
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.
Last updated:
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.
