Alone v.s. Lonely

I find that people often confuse the word alone with lonely, and vice versa, or people tend to think they’re synonyms of one another. And although loneliness can be caused by being alone, these are not the same words. 

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word alone means to have no one else present. Meanwhile, loneliness is characterized as a negative emotion that causes one to feel lonesome and secluded.  

This means that you can be at a party surrounded by people and yet still feel lonely and unwanted, or that you can be alone by yourself in your own room and yet still feel content and wanted.  

Being alone is a cause of loneliness, but not necessarily a synonym of loneliness.