alone

go it alone

to do something by yourself and without help from other people. Honda has chosen to go it alone rather than set up a joint venture with an American partner.

leave well alone (British & Australian, American)

to not change or try to improve something that is not causing any problems. So long as the machine still does what you want it to, my advice is to leave well alone. Surgeons are aware that every operation carries some risk, and sometimes decide to leave well enough alone.

See also: leave, well

leave/let well alone (British, American & Australian, American)

to leave something the way it is, because trying to improve it might make it worse. In cases of back trouble, it's difficult to know whether to operate or leave well alone. I'm not doing any more on that painting - it's time to let well enough alone.

See also: leave, let, well

Man cannot live by bread alone.

something that you say which means people need things such as art, music and poetry as well as food, in order to live a happy life. Our cultural heritage is important. Man cannot live by bread alone.

See also: bread, live, man

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go it alone

to do something without help from other people. After two years as a member of the quartet, Sinatra decided to go it alone. Even countries cannot go it alone in the world today.

leave someone alone

to not annoy or interrupt someone. If you just leave her alone she'll do the job right.

See also: leave

leave something alone

to not touch or be involved with something. Leave the bite alone and don't scratch it.

See also: leave

leave well enough alone

to allow something to stay as it is because doing more would not improve it. I thought about rewriting the letter, but I decided to leave well enough alone.

See also: enough, leave, well

let someone alone

to not annoy or interrupt someone. I tried to keep my promise not to call her, to let her alone to think, but finally I needed to talk to her.

See also: let

let alone do something

and to an even greater degree do something. We were trapped in a situation you can barely imagine, let alone understand.

Usage notes: used to emphasize the extreme character of something

not to mention someone/something

See also: let