Alone

Part of speech: adjective, adverb

Pronunciation: /əˈləʊn/

Definitions

1. Without other people present or not accompanied by anyone else
2. Being in a state where there are no other individuals nearby or without any company present
3. In a situation where one is by oneself without other persons present or joining

Etymology: "Alone" began as a phrase rather than a single word. Its Old English ancestor, "eall ān," literally meant "all one," with "eall" meaning "all" and "ān" meaning "one," so the sense was roughly "completely one" or "entirely by oneself." Over the Middle English period, the two words fused into "all oon," and then contracted into "allone," before the modern spelling settled in. The word's shape still reflects that history. Its relatives across Germanic languages follow the same pattern: Dutch "alleen," German "allein," and Swedish "allena" all combine an "all"-type element with a word for "one." The English form has simply worn down further than most of its cousins, and the "all" in it is a faint reminder of the original two-part phrase.

Synonyms: solitary, unaccompanied

Antonyms: together, accompanied