LONELINESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does loneliness mean? 

• LONELINESS (noun)
  The noun LONELINESS has 3 senses:

1. the state of being alone in solitary isolation

2. sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned

3. a disposition toward being alone

  Familiarity information: LONELINESS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LONELINESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of being alone in solitary isolation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

loneliness; solitariness

Hypernyms ("loneliness" is a kind of...):

isolation (a state of separation between persons or groups)

Derivation:

lonely (lacking companions or companionship)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

desolation; forlornness; loneliness

Hypernyms ("loneliness" is a kind of...):

sadness; unhappiness (emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being)

Derivation:

lonely (marked by dejection from being alone)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A disposition toward being alone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

aloneness; loneliness; lonesomeness; solitariness

Hypernyms ("loneliness" is a kind of...):

disposition; temperament (your usual mood)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "loneliness"):

friendlessness (being without friends)

reclusiveness (a disposition to prefer seclusion or isolation)

Derivation:

lonely (characterized by or preferring solitude)

 Context examples 

The moon had not yet risen, and Ruth, gazing into the starry vault of the sky and exchanging no speech with Martin, experienced a sudden feeling of loneliness.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But when the helpful voice was silent, the daily lesson over, the beloved presence gone, and nothing remained but loneliness and grief, then Jo found her promise very hard to keep.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The restful loneliness of the only life he had known was gone.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The loneliness of the man is slowly being borne in upon me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I have hardly had time yet to enjoy a sense of tranquillity, much less to grow impatient under one of loneliness.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Loneliness is bad for the heart and a strong predictor of premature death.

(Loneliness Is Bad for Heart, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

And now we are all scattered; and for many a long day loneliness will sit over our roofs with brooding wings.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Had she not forecast the future, and were there not times when in the loneliness of her chamber she was heard to hold converse with some being upon whom mortal eye never rested—some dark familiar who passed where doors were barred and windows high?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The weather continued much the same all the following morning; and the same loneliness, and the same melancholy, seemed to reign at Hartfield—but in the afternoon it cleared; the wind changed into a softer quarter; the clouds were carried off; the sun appeared; it was summer again.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Her feeling of loneliness became more pronounced, and she felt tired.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)