alienation
Americannoun
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the act of alienating, or of causing someone to become indifferent or hostile.
The advocacy group fights against prejudice and social alienation of immigrants.
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the state of being alienated, withdrawn, or isolated from the objective world, as through indifference or disaffection.
the group's alienation from mainstream society.
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the act of turning away, transferring, or diverting.
the alienation of land and resources from African peoples.
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Law. a transfer of the title to property by one person to another; conveyance.
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Statistics. the lack of correlation in the variation of two measurable variates over a population.
noun
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a turning away; estrangement
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the state of being an outsider or the feeling of being isolated, as from society
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psychiatry a state in which a person's feelings are inhibited so that eventually both the self and the external world seem unreal
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law
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the transfer of property, as by conveyance or will, into the ownership of another
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the right of an owner to dispose of his property
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Discover More
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 Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of alienation
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin aliēnātiōn- (stem of aliēnātiō ), equivalent to aliēnāt ( us ) ( see alienate) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
An easy way to experience alienation from your nice-smelling friends is to go a month without bathing. Alienation is a state of being cut off or separate from a person or group of people. The noun alienation describes the feeling that you're not part of a group. Your political views might cause you to feel a sense of alienation from the rest of your family, or your vegetarianism could result in alienation from your meat-eating friends. The Latin word for alien is alienus, "belonging to another." That idea of not belonging, or not fitting in, gave rise to the Latin verb alienare, "to estrange," which alienation comes from.
Vocabulary lists containing alienation
Tuesdays with Morrie
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Invisible Man
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"The Freedom Writers Diary" and "Strength, Courage, and Wisdom"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The conception of the role, marked by a dim view of stardom’s suffocating alienation, was something Jolie clearly understood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Susanna ultimately is freed, not because she’s cured of the alienation she has always felt but because of an accepted marriage proposal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
She says she connected with Eminem's work early on - especially the feeling of being out of step with the world around you and turning that alienation into music.
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
Written with clear compassion and boasting a robust performance by Lili Taylor, “I Shot Andy Warhol” portrays Solanas as a product of modern alienation.
From Salon ● Apr. 29, 2026
His alienation from the press caused ongoing problems.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Events of every description, changes, alienations, removals, – all, all must be comprised in it; and oblivion of the past – how natural, how certain too!
From Slate ● Feb. 13, 2021
John David Washington’s performance in BlacKkKlansman is impressive but the film’s quasi-Brechtian alienations and comic cartoonery arguably mean that it is more difficult to engage with his character emotionally.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 4, 2019
But I shall here relate another case of that wonderful disease, which fell yesterday under my eye, and to which I have seen many analogous alienations of mind, though not exactly similar in all circumstances.
From Zoonomia, Vol. I Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus
Will you say that the alienations made before the 11th of Elizabeth shall not stand good?
From The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 07 (of 12) by Burke, Edmund
The Formula of Concord was the cause of the most bitter controversies, dissensions, and alienations.
From Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church by Bente, F. (Friedrich)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
