Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#ALONECategory:English terms derived from Middle English#ALONE allone, from earlier all oon (“alone”, literally “all one”), contracted from the Old EnglishCategory:English terms derived from Old English#ALONE 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. Regarding the different phonological development of alone and one, see the note in one.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈləʊn/Category:English 2-syllable words#ALONECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ALONE

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#ALONE
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈloʊn/Category:English 2-syllable words#ALONECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ALONE, enPR: ə-lōnʹ

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#ALONE
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /əˈlon/Category:English 2-syllable words#ALONECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ALONE
• (Wales, without the toe–tow merger) IPA^(key): /əˈloːn/Category:English 2-syllable words#ALONECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ALONE
• (Hong Kong) IPA^(key): /aˈluŋ/Category:English 2-syllable words#ALONECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ALONE
• (Dublin) IPA^(key): /əˈlʌon/Category:English 3-syllable words#ALONECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#ALONE
• Rhymes: -əʊnCategory:Rhymes:English/əʊn#ALONECategory:Rhymes:English/əʊn/2 syllables#ALONE
• Hyphenation: a‧lone

Adjective

alone (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#ALONECategory:English adjectives#ALONECategory:English uncomparable adjectives#ALONECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#ALONECategory:Pages with entries#ALONECategory:Pages with 2 entries#ALONE (predicative only)

1. By oneself, solitary.

   Synonyms: on one's own, unaccompanied

   I can't ask for help because I am alone.Category:English terms with usage examples#ALONE

   1. Not involved in a romantic relationship.

      Synonyms: available, single, unattached, unpartnered

      Hyponym: unmarried

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis ii:18:

     It is not good that the man should be alone.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

     Alone on a wide, wide sea.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 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, archived from the original on 23 February 2026:

     When Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. special forces during a historic raid in his native homeland, he wasn't alone. His wife, Cilia Flores, was also detained.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

2. (predicatively, chiefly in the negativeCategory:English negative polarity items#ALONE) Lacking peers who share one's beliefs, experiences, practices, etc.

   Synonyms: deserted, forsaken, isolated

   Senator Craddock wants to abolish the estate tax, and she's not alone.Category:English terms with usage examples#ALONE

   I always organize my Halloween candy before eating it. Am I alone in this?Category:English terms with usage examples#ALONE

   • 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

   • 2021 September 8, Ekua Hagan, “5 Ways to Restore Our Hope”, in Psychology Today:

     If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by it all, you’re not alone.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

3. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#ALONE) Apart from, or exclusive of, others.

   Synonyms: exclusive, sole

   • 1662, Jacques Olivier, translated by Richard Banke, A Discourse of Women, Shewing Their Imperfections Alphabetically, →OCLC, page 18:

     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 […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

   • 1692, Richard Bentley, [A Confutation of Atheism] (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693:

     God, […] by whose alone power and conversation we all live, and move, and have our being.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

4. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#ALONE) Mere; consisting of nothing further.

   Synonyms: simple, only, very; see also Thesaurus:mere

   • 1676, Robert Barclay, An Apology for the True Christian Divinity […] ‎:

     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;

     Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

5. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#ALONE) Unique; rare; matchless.

   Synonyms: nonpareil, peerless, unparalleled; see also Thesaurus:unique

   • c. 1589–1593, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 2, scene 4, lines 163–165:

     Pardon me, Proteus, all I can is nothing / To her, whose worth makes other worthies nothing; / She is alone.

     Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

Adverb

alone (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#ALONECategory:English adverbs#ALONECategory:English uncomparable adverbs#ALONECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#ALONECategory:Pages with entries#ALONECategory:Pages with 2 entries#ALONE

1. By oneself; apart from, or exclusive of, others; solo.

   Synonyms: by one's lonesome, solitarily, solo; see also Thesaurus:solitarily

   She walked home alone.Category:English terms with usage examples#ALONE

2. Without outside help.

   Synonyms: by oneself, by one's lonesome, singlehandedly; see also Thesaurus:by oneself

   The job was too hard for me to do alone.Category:English terms with usage examples#ALONE

3. Focus adverb, typically modifying a noun and occurring immediately after it.
   1. Not permitting anything further; exclusively.

      Synonyms: entirely, solely; see also Thesaurus:solely

      The president alone has the power to initiate a nuclear launch.Category:English terms with usage examples#ALONE

      • 1788, James Madison, Federalist No. 46‎:

        They must be told, that the ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the People alone;

        Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

      • 1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xv:

        The Senate (A.U.C. 514) decreed that the eldest son alone should bear his father's praenomen.

        Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

   2. Not requiring anything further; merely.

      Oral antibiotics alone won't clear the infection.Category:English terms with usage examples#ALONE

      • 1871, John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy‎:

        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.

        Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

      • 1903, Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys on Land and Sea‎:

        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,

        Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

   3. (by extension) Used to emphasize the size or extent of something by selecting a subset.

      Her wardrobe is huge. She has three racks for blazers alone.Category:English terms with usage examples#ALONE

      The first sentence alone sold me on the book.Category:English terms with usage examples#ALONE

      • 1897, The Romance of Isabel, Lady Burton‎:

        In the first place, though Lady Burton published comparatively little, she was a voluminous writer, and she left behind her such a mass of letters and manuscripts that the sorting of them alone was a formidable task.

        Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

      • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

        “[…] 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.”

        Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

      • 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.

        Category:English terms with quotations#ALONE

References

• “alone”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Enola, Olena, Leona, NOAEL, Leano, anole

Etymology

From LatinCategory:Italian terms derived from Latin#ALONE halōs, from Ancient GreekCategory:Italian terms derived from Ancient Greek#ALONE ἅλως (hálōs); given an n-stem ending as if the Latin term were *halō, accusative *halōnem. Cognate with Sicilian aluni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈlo.ne/Category:Italian 3-syllable words#ALONECategory:Italian terms with IPA pronunciation#ALONE
• Rhymes: -oneCategory:Rhymes:Italian/one#ALONECategory:Rhymes:Italian/one/3 syllables#ALONE
• Hyphenation: a‧ló‧ne

Noun

alone m (plural aloni)Category:Italian lemmas#ALONECategory:Italian nouns#ALONECategory:Italian countable nouns#ALONECategory:Italian entries with incorrect language header#ALONECategory:Italian masculine nouns#ALONECategory:Pages with entries#ALONECategory:Pages with 2 entries#ALONE

1. halo
2. glow

Anagrams

• Noale, aleno, alenò, anelo, anelò