lone wolf

plural lone wolves

1. 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

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   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 an understanding: […] (2) the lone wolves, which apparently did not breed, were tolerant of, or indifferent to, other lone wolves in their areas; (3) the ranges of the lone wolves overlapped considerably[…]; (4) the lone wolves seemed to avoid certain large areas that one might logically think would have been visited by them […]

   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 Timber Wolf in Northeastern Minnesota (USDA Forest Service Research Paper; NC 52), St. Paul, Minn.: North Central Forest Experiment Station, Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 31, column 2

2. figurativelyA person who avoids the company of others; an independent or solitary person; a loner.

   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

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   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

   You'll never mix in. You'll be a lone wolf. I seen that right off. Wal, if a man can stand the loneliness, an' if he's quick on the draw, mebbe lone-wolfin' it is the best.

   1915 January, Zane Grey, chapter III, in The Lone Star Ranger: A Romance of the Border, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, book I (The Outlaw), page 36

   I am quite enough of a lone wolf as it is. I get on well with girls up to a certain point, but then they seem to find me too enigmatic.

   1938, Elizabeth Bowen, chapter IV, in The Death of the Heart, London: Victor Gollancz, →OCLC, part II (The Flesh), page 249

3. figurativelycrimeA 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

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   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 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’ attack”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Jan 2026

1. A town in Kiowa County, Oklahoma, United States.