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LONELINESS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A disposition toward being alone
Synonyms:
aloneness; loneliness; lonesomeness; solitariness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("loneliness" is a kind of...):
disposition; temperament (your usual mood)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "loneliness"):
friendlessness (being without friends)
reclusiveness (a disposition to prefer seclusion or isolation)
Derivation:
lonely (characterized by or preferring solitude)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned
Synonyms:
desolation; forlornness; loneliness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Hypernyms ("loneliness" is a kind of...):
sadness; unhappiness (emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being)
Derivation:
lonely (marked by dejection from being alone)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The state of being alone in solitary isolation
Synonyms:
loneliness; solitariness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("loneliness" is a kind of...):
isolation (a state of separation between persons or groups)
Derivation:
lonely (lacking companions or companionship)
Context examples:
Then, and quite suddenly, he became aware of loneliness.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
This loneliness is bad enough in itself, but, to make it worse, he is oppressed by the primal melancholy of the race.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Was it all self-pity, loneliness, or low spirits?
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I should still have my unblighted self to turn to: my natural unenslaved feelings with which to communicate in moments of loneliness.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Loneliness was associated with a doubled mortality risk in women and nearly doubled risk in men.
(Loneliness Is Bad for Heart, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
It is odd that a thing which I have been taught to regard with disfavour and as idolatrous should in a time of loneliness and trouble be of help.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
The amusement faded, and he was aware of a great loneliness.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
The coming of daylight dispelled his fears but increased his loneliness.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Cabin-boy at twelve, ship’s boy at fourteen, ordinary seamen at sixteen, able seaman at seventeen, and cock of the fo’c’sle, infinite ambition and infinite loneliness, receiving neither help nor sympathy, I did it all for myself—navigation, mathematics, science, literature, and what not.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
It is always so quiet and pleasant here, it does me good, Meg, she used to say, looking about her with wistful eyes, as if trying to discover the charm, that she might use it in her great house, full of splendid loneliness, for there were no riotous, sunny-faced babies there, and Ned lived in a world of his own, where there was no place for her.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
