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Webster 1913 Edition

Alone

A-lone′

,
Adj.
[
All
+
one
. OE.
al one
all allone, AS.
ān one
, alone. See
All
,
One
,
Lone
.]
1.
Quite by one’s self; apart from, or exclusive of, others; single; solitary; – applied to a person or thing.
Alone
on a wide, wide sea.
Coleridge.
It is not good that the man should be
alone
.
Gen. ii. 18.
2.
Of or by itself; by themselves; without any thing more or any one else; without a sharer; only.
Man shall not live by bread
alone
.
Luke iv. 4.
The citizens
alone
should be at the expense.
Franklin.
3.
Sole; only; exclusive.
[R.]
God, by whose
alone
power and conversation we all live, and move, and have our being.
Bentley.
4.
Hence; Unique; rare; matchless.
Shak.
☞ The adjective alone commonly follows its noun.
To let alone
or
To leave alone
,
to abstain from interfering with or molesting; to suffer to remain in its present state.

A-lone′

,
adv.
Solely; simply; exclusively.

Webster 1828 Edition

Alone

ALO'NE

,
Adj.
[all and one.]
1.
Single; solitary; without the presence of another; applied to a person or thing.
It is not good that man should be alone. Gen. 2.
[This adjective follows its noun.]
2.
It is applied to two or more persons or things, when separate from others, in a place or condition by themselves; without company.
And when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. Mark 4.
3.
Only.
Thou whose name alone is Jehovah. Ps. 83.
This sense at first appears to be adverbial, but really is not; whose name single, solitary, without another, is Jehovah.
To let alone is to suffer to rest; to forbear molesting or meddling with; to suffer to remain in its present state. Alone, in this phrase, is an adjective, the word to which it refers being omitted; let me alone; let them alone; let it alone; that is, suffer it to be unmolested, or to remain as it is, or let it remain by itself.

ALO'NE

,
adv.
Separately; by itself.

Definition 2024

alone

alone

English

Adjective

alone ‎(comparative more alone, superlative most alone)

  1. By oneself, solitary.
    I can't ask for help because I am alone.‎
  2. Apart from, or exclusive of, others.
    Jones alone could do it.‎
    • Richard Bentley (1662-1742)
      God, by whose alone power and conversation we all live, and move, and have our being.
  3. Considered separately.
    • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
      “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
    • 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:
      In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.
  4. Without equal.
    • 2013 August 23, Ian Traynor, “Rise of Europe's new autocrats”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 11, page 1:
      Hungary's leader is not alone in eastern and southern Europe, where democratically elected populist strongmen increasingly dominate, deploying the power of the state and a battery of instruments of intimidation to crush dissent, demonise opposition, tame the media and tailor the system to their ends.
  5. (obsolete) Unique; rare; matchless.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Derived terms

Usage notes

  • Used after what it modifies.

Translations

Adverb

alone ‎(not comparable)

  1. By one's self; apart from, or exclusive of, others; solo.
    She walked home alone.‎
  2. Without outside help.
    The job was too hard for me to do alone.‎
  3. Exclusively.
    The responsibility is theirs alone.‎

Usage notes

  • Unlike most focusing adverbs, alone typically appears after a noun phrase.
    Only the teacher knew vs. The teacher alone knew

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: held · help · number · #343: alone · body · point · letter

Anagrams

Italian

Etymology

From Latin halo.

Noun

alone m ‎(plural aloni)

  1. halo
  2. glow

Anagrams

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əˈləʊn/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /əˈloʊn/, enPR: ə-lōnʹ
  • (Hong Kong) IPA(key): /ɐˈluŋ/
  • Rhymes: -əʊn
  • Hyphenation: a‧lone
  • one and once are pronounced differently from the related words alone, only and atone. Stressed vowels often become diphthongs over time (Latin bona → Italian buona and Spanish buena), and this happened in the late Middle Ages to the words one and once, first recorded ca 1400: the vowel underwent some changes, from ōn → ōōōn → wōn → wōōn → wŏŏn → wŭn.

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