lone wolf
UK/ləʊn ˈwʊlf//ˌloʊn ˈwʊlf/
lone wolf noun: a wolf that is not part of a pack.
Noun
lone wolf (plural lone wolves)
- A wolf that is not part of a pack.
- They knew what it meant; even Joan had heard the cry of the lone wolf hunting in the lean time of winter, and of all things sad, all things lonely, all things demoniacal, the howl of a wolf stands alone.1921, Max Brand [pseudonym; Frederick Schiller Faust], “Equal Payment”, in The Seventh Man, New York, N.Y.; London: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons; The Knickerbocker Press, →OCLC, page 100
- Whatever the cause of the changes in movements of these animals, the fact that the pack used a much smaller area than any of the lone wolves may be of central importance in trying to understand the organization of the wolf population. The following pieces of information are also pertinent to such...1971, L[ucyan] David Mech; L[ouis] D[aniel] Frenzel, Jr.; Robert R. Ream; John W. Winship, “Movements, Behavior, and Ecology of Timber Wolves in Northeastern Minnesota”, in Ecological Studies of the...
- A person who avoids the company of others; an independent or solitary person; a loner.
- Don't be a lone wolf. Publish your results; take the world—take the nation at least—into your confidence.1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Plan that Failed”, in The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 231
- I am a lone wolf, a solitary man, wandering through a world in which I have no part.1899 January 7 – May 5, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Insomnia”, in When the Sleeper Wakes, London; New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, published 1899, →OCLC, page 2
- A criminal who acts alone, not as part of a group.
- [Stephen] Paddock's motives remain unclear. Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo described the shooting as a "lone wolf" attack. "We have no idea what his belief system was," he said.2017 October 3, “Las Vegas shooting: At least 58 dead at Mandalay Bay Hotel”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 15 Jul 2025
- A Tunisian man who killed two Swedish citizens in a terrorist attack in Brussels was "probably a lone wolf", the Belgian prime minister has said, as Sweden and Italy called for security at Europe's borders to be tightened. […] "We managed to neutralise the guilty person. So there was no longer any...2023 October 17, Lisa O’Carroll, Miranda Bryant, Lorenzo Tondo, “Killing of two Swedish football fans in Brussels ‘probably lone wolf’ attack”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London...
Proper noun capitalized: Lone Wolf
Lone Wolf
- A town in Kiowa County, Oklahoma, United States.
lone wolf meaning in Malay
lone wolf in Malay
- person who avoids the company of others
- suka bersendirian
Examples of lone wolf in a sentence
- I am quite enough of a lone wolf as it is.1938, Elizabeth Bowen, chapter IV, in The Death of the Heart, London: Victor Gollancz, →OCLC, part II (The Flesh), page 249:
- So there was no longer any imminent threat," [Alexander] De Croo said, adding he was "probably a lone wolf, but we cannot rule out copycat behaviour".2023 October 17, Lisa O’Carroll, Miranda Bryant, Lorenzo Tondo, “Killing of two Swedish football fans in Brussels ‘probably lone wolf’...
Forms of lone wolf
| plural | lone wolves |
|---|
Origin of lone wolf
From lone + wolf.
Named after Chief Lone Wolf.
Words formed from lone wolf
Words that rhyme with lone wolf
Questions about lone wolf
- What does lone wolf mean?
- Lone wolf means a wolf that is not part of a pack.
- What is lone wolf in Malay?
- Lone wolf in Malay is suka bersendirian. See Lone wolf meaning in Malay.
- How do you use lone wolf in a sentence?
- I am quite enough of a lone wolf as it is.
- What part of speech is lone wolf?
- Lone wolf can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce lone wolf?
- Lone wolf is pronounced /ləʊn ˈwʊlf/ (UK).
- What is the plural of lone wolf?
- The plural of lone wolf is lone wolves.
Words near lone wolf in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lone wolf (page history and authors); Lone Wolf (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-lone wolf.wav.
Cite this entry: “lone wolf.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lone_wolf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.