Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Lonely, solitary: Describes a state of being alone, isolated, or standing by itself, often evoking a feeling of vulnerability or exposure due to the lack of surrounding companions, support, or objects.
   • Bare, stark: Describes something that remains alone and exposed after other things have been removed, emphasizing its conspicuous and often forlorn presence.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau trận bão, giữa vườn chỉ còn trơ trọi một cây nhãn. (After the storm, only a single longan tree stood alone in the garden.)
  • Cô ấy cảm thấy rất trơ trọi khi mới chuyển đến thành phố mới. (She felt very lonely when she first moved to the new city.)
  • Ngôi nhà trơ trọi trên đỉnh đồi. (The house stood solitary on the hilltop.)

Advanced Usage

• The word often carries a connotation of emotional desolation or physical vulnerability resulting from isolation. It is not merely neutral description but implies a noticeable and sometimes poignant absence of others.

Variants and Related Words

• Trơ trơ (adj): Often describes an inanimate object's state of being bare, exposed, or unmoving, sometimes with a nuance of indifference. Less commonly used for emotional states than "trơ trọi."
• Lẻ loi (adj): Lonely, solitary. Can be very similar to "trơ trọi" but may focus more on the emotional experience of aloneness rather than the physical starkness.
• Chơ vơ (adj): Forlorn, adrift, describes a feeling of being lost or helplessly alone, often in a vast space.

Synonyms

• Solitary: Being alone.
• Isolated: Far from others.
• Forlorn: Pitifully sad and abandoned or lonely.
• Bare: Lacking the usual or appropriate covering.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Trơ trọi một mình: All alone, completely by oneself.
  • Ông cụ sống trơ trọi một mình trong căn nhà nhỏ. (The old man lives all alone in a small house.)

adj

1. lonely, solitary