on one's own

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Prepositional phrase

on one's own

1. (idiomatic) Alone; by oneself; without the companionship or assistance of others.

   A seven-year-old can get dressed on his own, but it might take a long time.

   I love cheese on toast, but I won't eat cheese on its own.

   • 1966, Vicki Wickham, Simon Napier-Bell (English lyrics), Dusty Springfield (vocalist), You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, 1965, Pino Donaggio, Vito Pallavicini, Io che non vivo (senza te),

     Don't you see / That now you've gone, / And I'm left here on my own, / I will have to follow you / And beg you to come home.

   • 2004 May 13, James B. Hull, Oversight Hearing on Firefighting Preparedness,

     Private operators, for the most part have done an admirable job of keeping these aging aircraft flying, but FAA has essentially said, “It’s public-use aircraft. You’re on your own.”

   • 2008, Barbara M. Newman, Philip R. Newman, Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach, page 215,

     They may adamantly reject help and insist that they can manage on their own.

Synonyms

• on one's tod
• on one's bill
• by oneself

Translations

alone; by oneself; without the companionship or assistance of others

• Arabic: بِمُفْرَدِي (ar) (bimufradī) (e.g. on my own)
• Belarusian: самасто́йна (samastójna), сам m (sam), сама́ f (samá), само́ n (samó), самі́ pl (samí)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自己 (zh) (zìjǐ), 靠……自己 (kào ... zìjǐ), 獨立地／独立地 (zh), 独立地 (zh) (dúlì de)

• Esperanto: sole (eo)
• Estonian: omaette, ise (et)
• Finnish: omillaan (fi), itse (fi), omatoimisesti (fi), itsekseen (fi)
• French: tout seul (fr) m
• German: auf sich selbst gestellt, selber (de), selbst (de), von alleine, von selbst, alleine (de), allein (de)
• Hungarian: egymagában, (without anything added) magában, (without external assistance or influence) egyedül (hu), magától (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 自分で (ja) (じぶんで, jibun de), 自身で (ja) (じ​しんで, jishin de), 一人で (ja) (ひと​りで, hitori de)
• Korean: 자신이 (ko) (jasini), 스스로 (ko) (seuseuro), 혼자 (ko) (honja), 자기(自己) (ko) (jagi)
• Malayalam: സ്വയം (ml) (svayaṁ)
• Polish: na własną rękę (pl), samodzielnie (pl)
• Russian: самостоя́тельно (ru) (samostojátelʹno), сам (ru) m (sam), сама́ (ru) f (samá), само́ (ru) n (samó), са́ми (ru) pl (sámi), оди́н (ru) m (odín), одна́ (ru) f (odná), одно́ (ru) n (odnó), одни́ (ru) pl (odní)
• Spanish: por sí mismo, por sí solo, por su cuenta, por su propia cuenta, solo (es)
• Ukrainian: самості́йно (samostíjno), сам m (sam), сама́ f (samá), само́ n (samó), сами́ pl (samý), самі́ pl (samí)