alienation

American  

[eyl-yuh-ney-shuhn, ey-lee-uh-] / ˌeɪl yəˈneɪ ʃən, ˌeɪ li ə- /

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 the state of being alienated, withdrawn, or isolated from the objective world, as through indifference or disaffection.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

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alienation British  

/ 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

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alienation Cultural  

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.

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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

• alienative
  adjective
• nonalienation
  noun
• realienation
  noun

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.

Example Sentences

Alienation in Marxism, the estrangement of workers from their work and from themselves due to capitalist exploitation.

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022

Alienation, isolation, depression and outright anger are very real issues with which students wrestle.

From Washington Post • Jan. 28, 2022

Alienation and angst are embodied in this quirky and sardonic British series.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 18, 2021

Alienation was the driving theme of the life story he told, repeatedly and often, a tale romantically massaged but based in fact.

From New York Times • Jul. 12, 2018

Alienation between rulers and ruled even extended to matters of simple nomenclature: according to one modern authority on demotic-script documents, the natives studiously avoided referring to Alexandria in the language of their conquerors.

From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro

Related Words

• disaffection
• estrangement
• indifference
• separation