loneliness

• lanelines (Scotland)

From lonely +‎ -ness.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈloʊnlinəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

loneliness (countable and uncountable, plural lonelinesses)

1. A feeling of depression resulting from being alone or from having no companions.
   • 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia‎^[1], London: T. Payne, et al, Volume 5, Book 10, Chapter 5, p. 274:

     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 […]

   • 1948, Alan Paton, chapter 21, in Cry, the Beloved Country‎^[2], New York: Scribner, page 154:

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

   • 1997, Bob Dylan, “Marchin’ to the City”, in The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006‎^[3]:

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

2. The condition or state of being alone or having no companions.
   • 1645, John Milton, Tetrachordon‎^[4], page 7:

     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 […]

   • 1657, Richard Ligon, A True & Exact History of the Island of Barbados, London: Humphrey Moseley, Dedicatory letter to the Bishop of Salisbury,^[5]

     [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 […]

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

     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.

3. The 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,^[6]

     […] as she sat at her bed-side, indulging melancholy reveries, which the loneliness of the hour assisted […]

   • 1877, Mayne Reid, chapter 4, in Gwen Wynn: A Romance of the Wye‎^[7], volume 3, London: Tinsley Bros, page 34:

     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.

   • 1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 5, in The Silver Chair‎^[8], New York: Scholastic, published 1987, pages 57–58:

     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.

4. (obsolete) A desire to be alone; disposition to solitude.
   • 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]:

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

• (depression resulting from being alone): lonesomeness
• (condition of being alone): aloneness, friendlessness, seclusion, solitariness, solitude