alienated

American  

[ey-lee-uh-ney-tid, eyl-yuh-] / ˈeɪ li əˌneɪ tɪd, ˈeɪl yə- /

adjective

1. indifferent or hostile.

   A year after the floods, the failure of the promised rehabilitation package has fed an already alienated populace's sense of hurt and anger towards the government.

2. withdrawn or isolated from the objective world.

   Albert Camus's novel The Stranger is the story of an alienated, unfeeling man who kills someone for no reason and dies without remorse.

3. turned away from its original purpose or course; transferred or diverted.

   The investment firm, which misappropriated millions of dollars committed to it, was required to restore the alienated funds to the plaintiff.

4. Law. (of property, title, rights, etc.) transferred or conveyed to another.

   Much reservation territory is now owned and controlled by non-Indigenous people, depriving Indigenous nations of billions of dollars in potential income from these alienated lands.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of alienate.

Other Word Forms

• unalienated adjective

Etymology

Origin of alienated

alienate ( def. ) + -ed ²

Example Sentences

Divorce, marriage, kids, no kids; so many of the men in McCarthy’s orbit feel alienated, adrift, untethered to any community.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2026

Some speculate that its ambiguous ending alienated audiences, although both viewers and critics seem to have liked the movie overall.

From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026

Her preoccupation with her students and her young son leaves Dick feeling alienated and lonely.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026

Over time, as people are uprooted from their agricultural communities as industrialisation tears apart people's familiar attachments, individuals become "alienated", he says.

From BBC • Feb. 12, 2026

Another important feature of the tournament was that Lancelot, with innocent idiocy, alienated the Orkneys finally and for good.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Related Words

• disaffected