Alienate

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈeɪ.li.É™.neɪt/

Origin

Latin aliēnātus, perfect passive participle of aliēnō ("alienate, estrange"), from aliēnus. See alien, and confer aliene.

Full definition of alienate

Adjective

1. Estranged; withdrawn in affection; foreign; with from.O alienate from God. John Milton. Paradise Lost line 4643.

Noun

1. (obsolete) A stranger; an alien.

Verb

1. To convey or transfer to another, as title, property, or right; to part voluntarily with ownership of.
2. To estrange; to withdraw affections or attention from; to make indifferent or averse, where love or friendship before subsisted; to wean.
• unknown date Thomas Babington Macaulay:The errors which ... alienated a loyal gentry and priesthood from the House of Stuart.
• unknown date Isaac Taylor:The recollection of his former life is a dream that only the more alienates him from the realities of the present.

Usage notes

Alienate is largely synonymous with estrange. However, alienate is used primarily to refer to driving off (“he alienated her with his atrocious behavior”) or to offend a group (“the imprudent remarks alienated the urban demographic”), while estrange is used rather to mean “cut off relations”, particularly in a family setting.

Synonyms

• (estrange) estrange, antagonize, isolate