alienate
Americanverb (used with object)
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alienates,
present (3rd person singular)
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alienated,
past participle, past
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alienating
present participle
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to make indifferent or hostile.
By refusing to get a job, he has alienated his entire family.
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to cause to be withdrawn or isolated from the objective world.
Bullying alienates already shy students from their classmates.
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to turn away; transfer or divert.
to alienate funds from their intended purpose.
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Law. to transfer or convey, as title, property, or other right, to another.
to alienate lands.
verb
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to cause (a friend, sympathizer, etc) to become indifferent, unfriendly, or hostile; estrange
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to turn away; divert
to alienate the affections of a person
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law to transfer the ownership of (property, title, etc) to another person
Synonym Usage
See estrange.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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alienatesimple
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alienatessimple
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have alienatedperfect
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has alienatedperfect
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am alienatingprogressive
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are alienatingprogressive
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is alienatingprogressive
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have been alienatingperfect progressive
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has been alienatingperfect progressive
Past
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alienatedsimple
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had alienatedperfect
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was alienatingprogressive
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were alienatingprogressive
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had been alienatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of alienate
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin aliēnātus (past participle of aliēnāre “to transfer by sale, estrange”), equivalent to aliēn(us) “belonging to another, another's, foreign, alien ” + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
When you alienate people, you make them stop liking or caring about you. Show up at a conference of cat lovers with a sign around your neck that says, "I hate kittens," and you'll learn firsthand what that means. Back in the days of Latin, before the word alien came to mean little green men from outer space, it described something or someone that was foreign or different or not known: an alien custom, an alien nation. When you alienate people, you make them WISH you were an alien, or at least that they could send you to the moon.
Vocabulary lists containing alienate
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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The Devil's Arithmetic
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"Laws are not the only way to boost immunization”: an editorial from Nature
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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:
"It might alienate us initially, but eventually it inspires us," Chayka says.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Is there a risk they alienate digital-first buyers?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
His buffoonish bravado and frequent failures alienate everyone who is not completely in his camp.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
A point they do argue — that picking on billionaires will alienate them, push them out of California and tank the state’s budget — is at least plausible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
I did not want to alienate him but I was not going to cringe.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
If shifting the club’s priorities alienates some older members who happen to be among the club’s important donors, it would be justified, Pilch said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2024
This is getting so weird, it alienates most people who hear about it.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2024
What alienates young people is how opera can often be presented.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2024
Mr Jordan and his team will have to try to find ways to cajole or coerce his opponents into yielding while not doing so in a way that alienates his current crop of supporters.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2023
“These are just rumors and gossip. The proverbs say ‘He who harps on a matter alienates his friend.’
From "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen
Now, I own head-to-toe Kirkland outfits and have alienated friends with heroic retellings of deals scored and food samples consumed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Granted, neither Gallego nor Murphy have alienated their constituencies with these ideas, but it’s a far cry from their personas when they were first elected.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
With a few posts, they alienated the very supporters who championed them as living proof of redemption.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
She went on to be the UN rights chief, a sensitive role in which she alienated some countries, especially China, which mauled her for reporting on Beijing's alleged abuses of the country's Uyghur minority group.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
He was alienated by his friends and he shrugged it off; his coach kept harassing him about me and he ignored it.
From "A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi
Four of the party's five MPs - Ellie Chowns, Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer, Sian Berry - had publicly opposed it, with Denyer arguing it could risk "alienating a significant proportion of Jewish people".
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
Their crippling codependence is alienating, as if there really were only one of them.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
But the move risks alienating customers who already may be grumbling about the complex array of ticket options when it comes time to book a flight.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
In a time when teen life is subsumed by alienating digital technology and an understandable risk-aversion, “Nimrods” takes the yearnings of its young punks seriously.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Copernicus’s disciple Rheticus, in the first published account of the Copernican theory, held back any reference to heliocentrism for as long as he possibly could, for fear of alienating his readers.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
