loneliness

noun

1. 1

   A feeling of depression resulting from being alone or from having no companions.

   The loneliness resulting from the loss of loved ones, lack of purpose in life, and social discrimination is a real inner hell.

   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 […]

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

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

2. 2

   The condition or state of being alone or having no companions.

   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 […]

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

   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.

   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. 4

   obsoleteA desire to be alone; disposition to solitude.

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

Forms

plural

lonelinesses