Etimology
From Middle English allone, from earlier all oon (“alone”, literally “all one”), contracted from the Old English phrase eall ān (“completely alone”), equivalent to al- (“all”) + one. Cognate with Scots alane (“alone”), Saterland Frisian alleene (“alone”), West Frisian allinne (“alone”), Dutch alleen (“alone”), Low German alleen (“alone”), German allein (“alone”), Danish alene (“alone”), Swedish allena (“alone”). More at all and one. Regarding the different phonological development of alone and one, see the note in one.
adjective
alone (comparative more alone, superlative most alone)
By oneself, solitary.
(predicatively, chiefly in the negative) Lacking peers who share one's beliefs, experiences, practices, etc.
(obsolete) Apart from, or exclusive of, others.
(obsolete) Mere; consisting of nothing further.
(obsolete) Unique; rare; matchless.
Examples
I can't ask for help because I am alone.
It is not good that the man should be alone.
Alone on a wide, wide sea.
Senator Craddock wants to abolish the estate tax, and she's not alone.
I always organize my Halloween candy before eating it. Am I alone in this?
Hungary's leader is not alone in eastern and southern Europe, where democratically elected populist strongmen increasingly dominate, deploying the power of the state and a battery of instruments of intimidation to crush dissent, demonise opposition, tame the media and tailor the system to their ends.
If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by it all, you’re not alone.
There are proofs enough in History, and first that beautiful Hynes, so much beloved by Charles the seventh King of France, who valued the alone possession of her Love at so high a rate, that […]
God, […] by whose alone power and conversation we all live, and move, and have our being.
and therefore all Killing, Banishing, Fining, Imprisoning, and other such things, which Men are afflicted with, for the alone exercise of their Conscience, or difference in Worship or Opinion, proceedeth from the spirit of Cain, the Murderer, and is contrary to the Truth;
Pardon me, Proteus, all I can is nothing / To her, whose worth makes other worthies nothing; / She is alone.
adverb
alone (not comparable)
By oneself; apart from, or exclusive of, others; solo.
Without outside help.
Focus adverb, typically modifying a noun and occurring immediately after it.
Examples
Synonyms: by one's lonesome, solitarily, solo; see also Thesaurus:solitarily
She walked home alone.
Synonyms: by oneself, by one's lonesome, singlehandedly; see also Thesaurus:by oneself
The job was too hard for me to do alone.
Synonyms: entirely, solely; see also Thesaurus:solely
The president alone has the power to initiate a nuclear launch.
They must be told, that the ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the People alone;
Oral antibiotics alone won't clear the infection.
Except on matters of mere detail, there are perhaps no practical questions, even among those which approach nearest to the character of purely economical questions, which admit of being decided on economical premises alone.
In writing this tale I had in mind not alone to please my young readers, but also to give them a fair picture of life on the ocean as it is to-day,
Her wardrobe is huge. She has three racks for blazers alone.
The first sentence alone sold me on the book.
In the first place, though Lady Burton published comparatively little, she was a voluminous writer, and she left behind her such a mass of letters and manuscripts that the sorting of them alone was a formidable task.
“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.