loneliness

Etymology

lonely + -ness

noun

1. A feeling of depression resulting from being alone or from having no companions.
   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 […] 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne, et al, Volume 5, Book 10, Chapter 5, p. 274
   We […] feel deep pity for a man who is condemned to the loneliness of being remarkable […] 1948, Alan Paton, chapter 21, in Cry, the Beloved Country, New York: Scribner, page 154
   Loneliness got a mind of its own The more people around, the more you feel alone 1997, Bob Dylan, “Marchin’ to the City”, in The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006
2. 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 […] 1645, John Milton, Tetrachordon, page 7
   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 […]
3. 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. 1877, Mayne Reid, chapter 4, in Gwen Wynn: A Romance of the Wye, volume 3, London: Tinsley Bros, page 34
   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. 1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 5, in The Silver Chair, New York: Scholastic, published 1987, pages 57–58
4. (obsolete) A desire to be alone; disposition to solitude.