From Middle English allone, from earlier all oon, contracted from the Old English - phrase eall ān, equivalent to al- + one.

• (RP) IPA: /əˈləʊn/
• (America) IPA: /əˈloʊn/, enPR: ə-lōnʹ
• (Hong Kong) IPA: /ɐˈluŋ/

alone (not comparable) (predicative only)

1. By oneself, solitary.

   I can't ask for help because I am alone.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Genesis ii:18 ↗:

     It is not good that the man should be alone.

   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

     Alone on a wide, wide sea.

2. (predicatively, chiefly in the negative) Lacking peers who share one's beliefs, experiences, practices, etc.

   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?

3. (obsolete) Apart from, or exclusive of, others.
   • 1662, Jacques Olivier, translated by Richard Banke, A Discourse of Women, Shewing Their Imperfections Alphabetically, →OCLC ↗, [https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:ziv877buf/read/single#page/28/mode/2up page 18]:

     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 […]

   • 1692, Richard Bentley, [A Confutation of Atheism] (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693:

     God, […] by whose alone power and conversation we all live, and move, and have our being.

4. (obsolete) Mere; consisting of nothing further.
5. (obsolete) Unique; rare; matchless.

• French: seul
• German: allein
• Portuguese: sozinho
• Russian: оди́н
• Spanish: solo, a solas

• Italian: da solo, solo
• Portuguese: único

alone (not comparable)

1. By oneself; apart from, or exclusive of, others; solo.

   Synonyms: by one's lonesome, solitarily, solo, Thesaurus:solitarily

   She walked home alone.

2. Without outside help.

   Synonyms: by oneself, by one's lonesome, singlehandedly, Thesaurus:by oneself

   The job was too hard for me to do alone.

3. Focus adverb, typically modifying a noun and occurring immediately after it.
   1. Not permitting anything further; exclusively.

      Synonyms: entirely, solely, Thesaurus:solely

      The president alone has the power to initiate a nuclear launch.

   2. Not requiring anything further; merely.

      Oral antibiotics alone won't clear the infection.

   3. (hence) Used to emphasize the size or extent of something by selecting a subset.

      Her wardrobe is huge. She has three racks for blazers alone.

      The first sentence alone sold me on the book.

      • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:

        “[…] 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.”

• French: seul
• German: allein, einsam
• Italian: solo, da solo
• Portuguese: sozinho
• Russian: оди́н
• Spanish: solo

• German: selbst
• Portuguese: sozinho
• Russian: сам
• Spanish: solo

• German: nur, ausschließlich, allein
• Italian: solo, soltanto, solamente
• Portuguese: só
• Russian: оди́н