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