LONESOME

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does lonesome mean? 

• LONESOME (adjective)
  The adjective LONESOME has 2 senses:

1. being the only one; single and isolated from others

2. marked by dejection from being alone

  Familiarity information: LONESOME used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LONESOME (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being the only one; single and isolated from others

Synonyms:

lone; lonesome; only; sole; solitary

Context example:

a solitary speck in the sky

Similar:

single (existing alone or consisting of one entity or part or aspect or individual)

Derivation:

lonesomeness (a disposition toward being alone)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Marked by dejection from being alone

Synonyms:

lonely; lonesome

Context example:

spent a lonesome hour in the bar

Similar:

dejected (affected or marked by low spirits)

 Context examples 

I’m not staying in this goldarned country all on my lonesome.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That being so, if all were men of sense then thou wouldst be a lonesome man, coz.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Ah, childer!" said she, "it fair troubles me to go into yond' room now: it looks so lonesome wi' the chair empty and set back in a corner."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"I was gettin' pretty lonesome. But I never forgot."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It’s lonesome, when you’re on duty here all day.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But I feel a bit lonesome here, for these boys are since my time.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There were fewer houses and fewer fruit trees, and the farther they went the more dismal and lonesome the country became.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

And there was the silence of death about it: the solitude of a lonesome wild.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

No drop shall pass my lips, Jim, if you will swear, wet or shine, blow or snow, to come up here twice in every week, that I may see you and speak with you, for, indeed, there are times when I am very lonesome.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)