Lone, lonely, lonesome.
Three synonyms in many cases. With an exception for one case.
1. According to what I read in dictionaries, Samson, <lone> and <lonely> may mean "objectively having no company", "being without company", what <lonesome> doesn't. <Lonesome> always insists one the fact of being sad, having bad feelings resulting from the lack of companionship, a meaning that <lone> and <lonely> also meet.
2. <lonely> and <lonesome> share as further meanings: having feelings from being solitary; causing a feeling of loneliness(e.g. the Delavigne offices were so empty that they seemed lonesome/lonely)
I wonder whether the adjectival suffix -some isn't a bit different from the adjectival suffix -ly.
Suffix -ly just means in a specified MANNER, specification made by the main root the suffix gets added to.
[examples: abashedly, permanently, accurately, exactly, precisely, partly, monthly, lonely,...]
Suffix -some only means characterized by a specified QUALITY, STATE, CONDITION, ACTION.
[ex.: awesome, bothersome, troublesome, worrisome, gruesome, lonesome...]
It seems to me that the -ly suffix commands more objective cases whereas the -some suffix commands more subjective ones. Am I right or wrong? I dunno.
Does this meet your ideas, Samson. Tell me your views.
Posts: 121
2 Oct. 2008