loneliness

noun

1. (uncountable, usually)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”

   “But if the point of living lies in relationships with other people, then it’s hard to think of A.I. assistants that imitate humans without nervousness. I don’t think they’re going to solve the loneliness epidemic at all.”

2. (uncountable, usually)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 […]”

   “1657, Richard Ligon, A True & Exact History of the Island of Barbados, London: Humphrey Moseley, Dedicatory letter to the Bishop of Salisbury, [I] was designing a piece of Landscape […] wherein I meant to expresse […] the beauties of the Vegetables, that do adorn that place, in the highest perfection I could: But presently after, being cast into Prison, I was deprived both of light and lonelinesse, two main helpers in that Art […]”

   “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. (uncountable, usually)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. (obsolete, uncountable, usually)A 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 […]”