alienation

[ eyl-yuh-ney-shuhn, ey-lee-uh- ]

noun

1. the act of alienating, or of causing someone to become indifferent or hostile:

   The advocacy group fights against prejudice and social alienation of immigrants.

2. the state of being alienated, withdrawn, or isolated from the objective world, as through indifference or disaffection:

   the group's alienation from mainstream society.

3. the act of turning away, transferring, or diverting:

   the alienation of land and resources from African peoples.

4. Law. a transfer of the title to property by one person to another; conveyance.
5. Statistics. the lack of correlation in the variation of two measurable variates over a population.

alienation

/ ˌeɪljəˈneɪʃən; ˌeɪlɪə- /

noun

1. a turning away; estrangement
2. the state of being an outsider or the feeling of being isolated, as from society
3. psychiatry a state in which a person's feelings are inhibited so that eventually both the self and the external world seem unreal
4. law
   1. the transfer of property, as by conveyance or will, into the ownership of another
   2. the right of an owner to dispose of his property

alienation

1. A feeling of separation or isolation. In social science , alienation is associated with the problems caused by rapid social change, such as industrialization and urbanization ( see Industrial Revolution ), which has broken down traditional relationships among individuals and groups and the goods and services they produce.

Notes

Marxism holds that workers in capitalist nations are alienated because they have no claim to ownership of the products they make.

Alienation is most often associated with minorities, the poor, the unemployed, and other groups who have limited power to bring about changes in society.

Other Words From

• alien·ative adjective
• nonal·ien·ation noun
• real·ien·ation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of alienation¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin aliēnātiōn- (stem of aliēnātiō ), equivalent to aliēnāt ( us ) ( alienate ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

Poverty, alienation, estrangement, continuously aggravated by racism, overt and institutional.

From The Daily Beast

But The Dog surpasses simply documenting the alienation endemic in the 21st-century global village.

From The Daily Beast

This kind of thing sits in black American minds and creates a sense of alienation.

From The Daily Beast

He was probably a perfect young candidate for moral alienation when confronted with the reality of war.

From The Daily Beast

Deeper alienation and isolation can follow along with heightened chances of suicide and substance abuse.

From The Daily Beast

In the close relation and affection of these last days, the sense of alienation and antagonism faded from both their hearts.

From Project Gutenberg

With regard to the latter he showed very plainly his alienation from Russian soil.

From Project Gutenberg

Her quiet confidence, while I was so dissatisfied, worked curiously towards the alienation of my sympathies.

From Project Gutenberg

All future tenures created by the king to be in free and common socage, reserving rents to the Crown and also fines on alienation.

From Project Gutenberg

These nightly retirements, in the sequel, gave rise to the first suspicion of his alienation from the church of Rome.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• disaffection
• estrangement
• indifference
• separation