loneliness

plural lonelinesses · alternative Scotland lanelines

1. uncountableusuallyA feeling of depression resulting from being alone or from having no companions.

   The loneliness resulting from the loss of loved ones, lack of purpose in life, and social discrimination is a real inner hell.

   4 more examples

   Cecilia proposed to her the society of Henrietta, which, glad to catch at any thing that would break into her loneliness, she listened to with pleasure […]

   1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne, et al, Volume 5, Book 10, Chapter 5, p. 274

   We […] feel deep pity for a man who is condemned to the loneliness of being remarkable […]

   1948, Alan Paton, chapter 21, in Cry, the Beloved Country, New York: Scribner, page 154

   Loneliness got a mind of its own The more people around, the more you feel alone

   1997, Bob Dylan, “Marchin’ to the City”, in The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006

   But if the point of living lies in relationships with other people, then it’s hard to think of A.I. assistants that imitate humans without nervousness. I don’t think they’re going to solve the loneliness epidemic at all.

   2024 May 20, Alissa Wilkinson, “What We Lose When ChatGPT Sounds Like Scarlett Johansson”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2024

   Synonyms: ellingness, lonesomeness

2. uncountableusuallyThe condition or state of being alone or having no companions.

   Hitherto all things that have bin nam’d, were approv’d of God to be very good: lonelines is the first thing which Gods eye nam’d not good […]

   1645, John Milton, Tetrachordon, page 7

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   1657, Richard Ligon, A True & Exact History of the Island of Barbados, London: Humphrey Moseley, Dedicatory letter to the Bishop of Salisbury, [I] was designing a piece of Landscape […] wherein I meant to expresse […] the beauties of the Vegetables, that do adorn that place, in the highest perfection I could: But presently after, being cast into Prison, I was deprived both of light and lonelinesse, two main helpers in that Art […]

   Wretched as were the little companions in misery he was leaving behind, they were the only friends he had ever known; and a sense of his loneliness in the great wide world sank into the child’s heart for the first time.

   1837 February, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “Treats of Oliver Twist’s Growth, Education, and Board”, in Oliver Twist; […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], published 1838, →OCLC, page 20

   Synonyms: aloneness, friendlessness, aloneness, isolation, loneness, onehead, oneship, onlyhood

3. uncountableusuallyThe state of being unfrequented or devoid of human activity (of a place or time).

   1794, Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, London: G.G. & J. Robinson, Volume 4, Chapter 3, p. 50, […] as she sat at her bed-side, indulging melancholy reveries, which the loneliness of the hour assisted […]

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   In addition, the very loneliness of the road had its charm for him; since only at rare intervals is house seen by its side, and rarer still living creature encountered upon it.

   1877, Mayne Reid, chapter 4, in Gwen Wynn: A Romance of the Wye, volume 3, London: Tinsley Bros, page 34

   The rest was all flat marsh. It would have been a depressing place on a wet evening. Seen under a morning sun, with a fresh wind blowing, and the air filled with the crying of birds, there was something fine and fresh and clean about its loneliness.

   1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 5, in The Silver Chair, New York: Scholastic, published 1987, pages 57–58

   Synonyms: unfrequentedness

4. obsoleteuncountableusuallyA desire to be alone; disposition to solitude.

   […] I see The mystery of your loneliness, and find Your salt tears’ head: now to all sense ’tis gross You love my son […]

   c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]