Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Without accompaniment; solitary.
  • adjective Being the only one; sole.
  • adjective Situated by itself.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A lane. Also loan.
  • Being unaccompanied; apart from any other; solitary; lonely; isolated: as, a lone traveler; a lone house.
  • Single in state; living alone; unmated or unmarried.
  • Lonely; secluded; unfrequented.
  • noun A Middle English form of loan.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Being without a companion; being by one's self; also, sad from lack of companionship; lonely.
  • adjective Archaic Single; unmarried, or in widowhood.
  • adjective Being apart from other things of the kind; being by itself; also, apart from human dwellings and resort.
  • adjective Unfrequented by human beings; solitary.
  • noun Prov. Eng. A lane. See loanin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Solitary; having no companion.
  • adjective Isolated or lonely; lacking companionship.
  • adjective Sole; being the only one of a type.
  • adjective Situated by itself or by oneself, with no neighbours.
  • adjective archaic Unfrequented by human beings; solitary.
  • adjective archaic single; unmarried, or in widowhood

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective lacking companions or companionship
  • adjective being the only one; single and isolated from others
  • adjective characterized by or preferring solitude

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, short for alone; see alone.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortened from alone.

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Examples

  • Typically, they go after someone who they can turn into what I call the "lone atheist troublemaker."

    Chris Rodda: The Camp Pendleton Cross: The Facts vs. What the "Persecuted" Christians Are Saying Chris Rodda 2011

  • As New York City police tracked what they called a "lone wolf" terrorism suspect for more than a year, federal authorities declined to join the case, believing the man didn't pose a serious threat, people familiar with the matter said.

    Police, FBI Split on Terror Suspect Devlin Barrett 2011

  • You, Peter, really believe that this is part of something larger, this is just not what we call the lone wolf?

    CNN Transcript Dec 27, 2009 2009

  • You, Peter, really believe that this is part of something larger, this is just not what we call the lone wolf?

    CNN Transcript Dec 27, 2009 2009

  • COOPER (voice-over): Terrorism home grown and the hunt for what they call the lone wolves.

    CNN Transcript Jan 19, 2005 2005

  • "The thing we are all most worried about is what they call a 'lone ranger,' a lone actor, not some extremely complicated plan like it took to take down the World Trade Centre towers," said Biden, who appeared on the trio of network morning TV shows Friday.

    CBC | Top Stories News 2011

  • As New York City police tracked what they called a "lone wolf" terrorism suspect for more than a year, federal authorities declined to join the case, believing the man didn't pose a serious threat, people familiar with the matter said.

    WSJ.com: What's News US 2011

  • BY DEVLIN BARRETT AND SEAN GARDINER As New York City police tracked what they called a "lone wolf" terrorism suspect for more than a year, federal authorities declined to join the case, believing the man didn't pose a serious threat, people familiar with the matter said.

    WSJ.com: What's News US 2011

  • "The thing we are all most worried about is what they call a 'lone ranger,' a lone actor, not some extremely complicated plan like it took to take down the World Trade towers," said Biden, who appeared on the trio of network morning TV shows Friday.

    Thestar.com - Home Page Star wire services 2011

  • "The thing we are all most worried about is what they call a 'lone ranger,' a lone actor, not some extremely complicated plan like it took to take down the World Trade towers," said Biden, who appeared on three morning news shows.

    FOXNews.com 2011

Comments

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  • lONE

    April 26, 2008