Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
When you are ~, you are not with any other people.
There is nothing so fearful as to be ~ in a combat situation...
He was all ~ in the middle of the hall.
ADJ: v-link ADJ
•
Alone is also an adverb.
She has lived ~ in this house for almost five years now...
ADV: ADV after v
2.
If one person is ~ with another person, or if two or more people are ~, they are together, without anyone else present.
I couldn’t imagine why he would want to be ~ with me...
My brother and I were ~ with Vincent.
ADJ: v-link ADJ, oft ADJ with n
3.
If you say that you are ~ or feel ~, you mean that nobody who is with you, or nobody at all, cares about you.
Never in her life had she felt so ~, so abandoned...
ADJ: v-link ADJ
4.
You say that one person or thing ~ does something when you are emphasizing that only one person or thing is involved.
You ~ should determine what is right for you...
They were convicted on forensic evidence ~.
ADV: n ADV emphasis
5.
If you say that one person or thing ~ is responsible for part of an amount, you are emphasizing the size of that part and the size of the total amount.
The BBC ~ is sending 300 technicians, directors and commentators...
ADV: n ADV emphasis
6.
If someone is ~ in doing something, they are the only person doing it, and so are different from other people.
Am I ~ in thinking that this scandal should finish his career?
= unique
ADJ: v-link ADJ, oft ADJ in -ing/n
•
Alone is also an adverb.
I ~ was sane, I thought, in a world of crazy people.
ADV: ADV prep, n ADV
7.
When someone does something ~, they do it without help from other people.
Bringing up a child ~ should give you a sense of achievement...
ADV: ADV after v
8.
If you go it ~, you do something without any help from other people. (INFORMAL)
I missed the stimulation of working with others when I tried to go it ~.
PHRASE: V inflects
9.
to leave someone or something ~: see leave
let ~: see let