lonesome

English

Alternative forms

• lanesome (Scotland)

Etymology

From lone +‎ -some, mid-17th century.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈləʊnsəm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈloʊnsəm/
• Hyphenation: lone‧some

Adjective

lonesome (comparative more lonesome, superlative most lonesome)

1. Unhappy due to being alone; lonely.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     'Where'er the sun shakes out his spears, and the lonesome waters mirror up the moon, where'er storms roll [...] there shall thy power pass and thy dominion find a home.'

Derived terms

• high lonesome sound

Translations

unhappy due to being alone

Bulgarian: самотен (bg) (samoten) Chinese: Mandarin: 寂寞 (zh) (jìmò) Finnish: yksinäinen (fi) French: solitaire (fr) Galician: señardoso German: einsam (de) Italian: solitario (it) m Japanese: 寂しい (ja) (さびしい, sabishii) Latin: sōlitārius Malay: sunyi (ms), sepi (ms) Norwegian: Bokmål: ensom (no) m Ottoman Turkish: یالڭز (yalñız) Polish: samotny (pl) Portuguese: solitário (pt) Russian: одино́кий (ru) (odinókij) Scottish Gaelic: aonaranach, uaigneach Spanish: solitario (es)

Noun

lonesome (plural lonesomes)

1. (informal) Oneself alone.

   I sat and watched the cars pass all by my lonesome.

Derived terms

• by one's lonesome
• on one's lonesome