alienate

English

Etymology

From Middle English alienat, from Latin aliēnātus, perfect passive participle of aliēnō (“alienate, estrange”), from aliēnus. See alien, and confer aliene.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈeɪ.li.ə.neɪt/
- Audio (UK) (file)

Adjective

alienate (not comparable)

(archaic, followed by "from") Estranged; withdrawn in affection; foreign
- 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the book number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, line 4643:
  O alienate from God.

Noun

alienate (plural alienates)

(obsolete) A stranger; an alien.

Verb

alienate (third-person singular simple present alienates, present participle alienating, simple past and past participle alienated)

To convey or transfer to another, as title, property, or right; to part voluntarily with ownership of.
To estrange; to withdraw affections or attention from; to make indifferent or averse, where love or friendship before subsisted.
- 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 1, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323:
  The errors which […] alienated a loyal gentry and priesthood from the House of Stuart.
- 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, OCLC 2619891:
  The recollection of his former life is a dream that only the more alienates him from the realities of the present.
- 1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn:
  The Communists had considerable influence in the Labour Party in the years 1920–26 and 1935–9. Their chief importance, and that of the whole left wing of the Labour movement, was the part they played in alienating the middle classes from Socialism.
To cause one to feel unable to relate.

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, marginalize

Antonyms

(estrange): accept

Translations

to convey or transfer

Catalan: alienar (ca)
Dutch: vervreemden (nl)
Finnish: siirtää (fi)
French: aliéner (fr)
Galician: allear (gl)
Italian: alienare (it), cedere (it), vendere (it), trasferire (it)
Latvian: atsavināt
Macedonian: о́туѓи (ótuǵi)
Maori: whakarere rawa
Norwegian: fremmedgjøre (no)
Polish: alienować (pl) impf
Portuguese: alienar (pt)
Russian: отчужда́ть (ru) impf (otčuždátʹ), отчуди́ть (ru) pf (otčudítʹ)
Spanish: alienar (es), enajenar (es)
Ukrainian: відчу́жувати impf (vidčúžuvaty), відчу́жити pf (vidčúžyty)

to estrange

Catalan: alienar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 疏遠／疏远 (zh) (shūyuǎn)
Czech: odcizit (cs)
Danish: fremmedgøre
Dutch: vervreemden (nl)
Esperanto: fremdigi
Faroese: styggja frá sær
Finnish: vieraannuttaa
French: aliéner (fr)
Galician: alienar
German: befremden (de), entfremden (de)
Gothic: 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌸𐌾𐌰𐌽 (framaþjan)
Greek: αποξενώνω (el) (apoxenóno)
Hebrew: ניכר‎ (nikér)
Italian: estraniarsi (it), allontanarsi (it)
Japanese: 疎外する (ja) (sogai suru), 仲間外れにする (nakamahazure ni suru)
Latin: aliēnō, abaliēnō
Latvian: atsvešināt
Macedonian: о́туѓи (ótuǵi)
Maltese: barra
Maori: whakakaikiri
Norwegian:
Bokmål: fremmedgjøre (no)
Old English: āfremdan
Polish: alienować (pl) impf, wyalienować (pl) pf, zalienować pf
Portuguese: alienar (pt)
Russian: отчужда́ть (ru) impf (otčuždátʹ), отчуди́ть (ru) pf (otčudítʹ); отвраща́ть (ru) impf (otvraščátʹ), отврати́ть (ru) pf (otvratítʹ); отдаля́ть (ru) impf (otdaljátʹ), отдали́ть (ru) pf (otdalítʹ)
Spanish: alienar (es)
Ukrainian: відчу́жувати impf (vidčúžuvaty), відчу́жити pf (vidčúžyty)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} отчуждавам (bg) (otčuždavam)
German: ^{(please verify)} entfremden (de)
Gilbertese: ^{(please verify)} bure
Italian: ^{(please verify)} alienare (it)
Latin: ^{(please verify)} abaliēnō, ^{(please verify)} aliēnō

References

alienate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Italian

Adjective

alienate f pl

feminine plural of alienato

Participle

alienate f pl

feminine plural of alienato

Noun

alienate f

plural of alienata

Verb

alienate

inflection of alienare:
1. second-person plural present indicative
2. second-person plural imperative

Anagrams

aleniate, aneliate

Latin

Verb

aliēnāte

second-person plural present active imperative of aliēnō

Middle English

Adjective

alienate

Alternative form of alienat