on one's own

English

Pronunciation

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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.

   • 2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is best in the Highlands”, in RAIL, number 997, page 39:

     After Bridge of Orchy, the line climbs steeply into the wild country of Rannoch Moor. The railway builders chose a different route across the moor from the road - we are completely on our own up here.

Synonyms

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

Translations

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

• Afrikaans: self (af), vanself
• 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) (dúlì de)

• Dutch: op eigen houtje
• Esperanto: sole (eo)
• Estonian: omaette, ise (et)
• Finnish: omillaan (fi), itse (fi), omatoimisesti (fi), itsekseen (fi)
• French: tout seul (fr) m, par soi-même, par ses propres moyens (fr)
• Galician: de seu, por si mesmo
• German: auf sich selbst gestellt, selber (de), selbst (de), von alleine, von selbst, alleine (de), allein (de)
• Greek: μόνος μου (mónos mou)
• Hungarian: egymagában, (without anything added) magában (hu), (without external assistance or influence) egyedül (hu), magától (hu)
• 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)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: шке (ške)

• 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)