Alone vs Only - What's the difference?
alone | only |
By oneself, solitary.
:
*(Bible), (w) ii. 18
*:It is not good that the man should be alone .
*(Samuel Taylor Coleridge) (1772-1834)
*:Alone on a wide, wide sea.
Apart from, or exclusive of, others.
:
*(Richard Bentley) (1662-1742)
*:God, by whose alone power and conversation we all live, and move, and have our being.
Considered separately.
*
*:“[…] 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.”
*{{quote-magazine, title=No hiding place
, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist)
Without equal.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-23, author=
, volume=189, issue=11, page=1, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (lb) Unique; rare; matchless.
:(Shakespeare)
By one's self; apart from, or exclusive of, others; solo.
Without outside help.
Exclusively.
Alone in a category.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=
, volume=189, issue=7, page=32, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Singularly Superior; the best.
* (William Shakespeare)
Without sibling; without a sibling of the same gender.
* 1949 , and (Ernestine Gilbreth Carey), (Cheaper by the Dozen) , dedication:
(label) Mere.
* , I.40:
Without others or anything further; exclusively.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=
, volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= No more than; just.
* 1949 , Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, (Cheaper by the Dozen) , dedication:
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=20 * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= As recently as.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (obsolete) Above all others; particularly.
* Marston
Under the condition that; but.
However.
But for the fact that; except.
(rare) only child
* 2013 , Sybil L. Hart, ?Maria Legerstee, Handbook of Jealousy
In obsolete terms the difference between alone and only
is that alone is unique; rare; matchless while only is above all others; particularly.As adjectives the difference between alone and only
is that alone is by oneself, solitary while only is alone in a category.As adverbs the difference between alone and only
is that alone is by one's self; apart from, or exclusive of, others; solo while only is without others or anything further; exclusively.As a conjunction only is
under the condition that; but.As a noun only is
only child.alone
English
(wikipedia alone)Adjective
(en adjective)citation, passage=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.}}
Ian Traynor
Rise of Europe's new autocrats, passage=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.}}
Usage notes
* Used after what it modifies.Adverb
(-)Usage notes
* Unlike most focusing adverbs, alone typically appears after a noun phrase. *: Only the teacher knew'' vs. ''The teacher alone knewSynonyms
* (by oneself) lone, lonely, single, solitary, solo * (without outside help) singlehandedly, by myself * (exclusively)Derived terms
* alonely * leave alone * let aloneStatistics
*only
English
Alternative forms
* onely (obsolete)Adjective
(-)Nick Miroff
Mexico gets a taste for eating insects, passage=The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters such as ostrich, wild boar and crocodile. Only the city zoo offers greater species diversity.}}
- Motley's the only wear.
- To DAD ¶ who only reared twelve children ¶ and ¶ To MOTHER ¶ who reared twelve only children
- I know some who wittingly have drawne both profit and preferment from cuckoldrie, the only name whereof is so yrksome and bail-ful to so many men.
Synonyms
* (alone in a category) sole, lone * (singularly superior) peerless, unequaled, nonpareilDerived terms
* if any * if only * one and only * only child * only game in town * only ifAdverb
(-)Ed Pilkington
‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told, passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}
- To DAD
- who only reared twelve children
- and
- To MOTHER
- who reared twelve only children
citation, passage=‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’}}
Engineers of a different kind, passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}
Yesterday’s fuel, passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).}}
- his most only elected mistress
Derived terms
* if and only if * only ifConjunction
(English Conjunctions)Statistics
*Noun
(onlies)- The consistent finding that infants who are onlies do not differ from those who have siblings despite their lesser history of exposure to differential treatment is perplexing.