How can I distinguish "lonely" from "lonesome"?

[Thang77]

How can I distinguish "lonely" from "lonesome". And By the way I'd like to know when should I use "for the time being" and "for a while"? are there any differences?

[Jamie (K)]

Generally, "lonely" and "lonesome" mean the same thing, so you can use them in the same situations. If you look the two words up in a monolingual English dictionary, you'll find that they are used to define each other. There is very little difference, if any.

"For the time being" means "temporarily for the present time". It means you're using one solution temporarily, but later you will change to a better one. "For a while" means for some limited period of time, which may be in the past, present or future.

[Ralf]

Hi thang,

Basically they mean the same and are often interchangeable, but there are situations when you can make the following distinctions.

Usually, when people who are lonely they are alone and unhappy about it.

Joe is very lonely after his wife's death.

Things can be lonesome if you want to attach a sad and lonely characteristic to them.

This lonesome blues puts me in a melancholic mood every time I hear it.

As for your second question:

'for the time being' - at the moment

For the time being, I will not go back to work.

'for a while' - usually a period of time in the past, future or perfected present tense

I've been living here for a while.
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[Jamie (K)]

"At the top of the hill stood one lonely tree."

Things can be lonely also.

[Ralf]

That's right, and you can have a lone cowboy or a lone tree.
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[Lost_Soul]

Just heard on the song "American made" by George Thorogood

I'll go miles and miles on this lonesome road
I got a heavy heart but I never ask noone to carry my load

[Ralf]

Hell's brewin' dark sun's on the rise
This storm'll blow through by and by
House is on fire, Viper's in the grass
A little revenge and this too shall pass
This too shall pass, I'm gonna pray
Right now all I got's this lonesome day

It's allright? It's allright? It's allright

Better ask questions before you shoot
Deceit and betrayals bitter fruit

Bruce Springsteen, Lonesome Day
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[Yankee]

.
To me, the expression "for the time being" also tends to suggest that what's happening at the moment is a stopgap activity.
AHD definition: stopgap
.
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[Jamie (K)]

[Skrej]

[Jamie (K)]

[Skrej]

So, some lonesome day, if the lone lonely cowboy known as the Lone Ranger ever got lonely enough, after being the lone gun fighter, to hang his lonesome self on the lone tree on top the hill at the end of a lonesome road just outside Lonesome Dove in the Lone Star State, that'd pretty much cover it?

<Edit> Unless, of course, he died from loneliness. That would be a far different story.
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