lonely

adjective lone·ly \ ˈlōn-lē \

|Updated on: 19 Jun 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: lonely in a Sentence

Definition of lonely

lonelier; loneliest

1 a : being without company : lone

too many lonely nights at home

b : cut off from others : solitary

the train stopped frequently at lonely little stations
—Robert Hichens

2 : not frequented by human beings : desolate

a lonely spot in the woods

3 : sad from being alone : lonesome

He was feeling lonely without his wife and children.

4 : producing a feeling of bleakness or desolation

it's a lonely thing to be a champion
—G. B. Shaw

—

loneliness

play \ˈlōn-lē-nəs\ noun

See lonely defined for English-language learners

See lonely defined for kids

Examples of lonely in a Sentence

He was lonely without his wife and children.
She was a lonely child with few friends.
It was lonely living out in the country.
She spent too many lonely nights at home.
She had a lonely childhood.
a lonely spot in the woods
a lonely stretch of road

Recent Examples of lonely from the Web

The lonely dude, who forgot to wear sunscreen, sitting in section 301, row 2, seat 1 on Sunday afternoon for the Rangers' 8-7 loss to the Astros was me.

— mac engel, star-telegram, "From the cheap seats: A thank you to fans who get the shaft," 10 June 2018
Keepers have grown used to being asked if the single rhino is lonely.

— matt campbell, kansascity, "Breeding pair of rhinos, new to the Kansas City Zoo, getting along just fine," 8 June 2018
Open a chat window with someone on Facebook who seems lonely.

— erin allday, SFChronicle.com, "Experts: Suicides of Bourdain, Spade may be opportunity to reach out," 8 June 2018
Error 5 Berenberg's Schmieding Says America First Means America Alone President Donald Trump will cut a lonely figure at a meeting of the world’s club for wealthy nations this week.

— andrew mayeda, Bloomberg.com, "It’s Trump Against the Developed World as G-7 Frays Over Tariffs," 7 June 2018
Audiences have gotten familiar with this kind of cautionary yarn, where technology offers a lonely simulacrum of human contact.

— adi robertson, The Verge, "NBC’s new VR thriller Reverie is a schmaltzy take on techno-dystopia," 30 May 2018
Little darling, it’s bee a long, cold, lonely winter.

— richard lawson, HWD, "What’s New on Netflix in June," 24 May 2018
That lonely young man at the alumni pong tournament, Nathan Gusdorf, knows all this.

— alexander nazaryan, Newsweek, "America’s Best and Drunkest," 11 Sep. 2014
Childhood is lonelier and more isolating than most of us are willing to remember or admit.

— heather havrilesky, The Cut, "Why Did We Ever Leave Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood?," 31 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'lonely.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of lonely

circa 1598

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

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lonely Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of lonely

alone, solitary, lonely, lonesome, lone, forlorn, desolate mean isolated from others. alone stresses the objective fact of being by oneself with slighter notion of emotional involvement than most of the remaining terms.