Problems with the definition

In our everyday life we often use the word “single”, which we to some extent understand automatically. But when we have to precisely define the term we find it quite difficult. Formally, singles are unmarried people. This group consists of people who have never married, as well as those who are divorced, widowed and separated. In a dictionary we can find: single: one in number; solitary or sole; lone; unmarried; pertaining to the unmarried state. In English and American literature, single is a very big category of people with no distinction of their formal situation, marriage or social status. Additionally “single” is used interchangeably with such terms as singlehood and singleness, not married, unmarried, and bachelor, all of which describe marital status. By contrast, terms such as lonely and loneliness are usually used to describe mental loneliness, or the state of being abandoned.

For some researchers terms such as feeling lonely, loneliness and living alone mean pretty much the same, and yet there are quite significant differences in their definitions. According to Gordon loneliness cannot be proved based on objective measuring scales of number and frequency of social interactions, it needs to be considered together with factors which determine the quality of social interactions and living alone as a preference, the choice of such a lifestyle [Gordon, 2003].