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to cause to be withdrawn or isolated from the objective world.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:
Others, like Vance, have warned that AI has the potential to further atomize society and alienate individuals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 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
You don’t want to alienate your mom or dad, or make them feel that you don’t support their late-in-life shot at romantic bliss.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
On “The View,” he was calm, self-deprecating at times and careful not to alienate outright.
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2026
What’s good is that the professors didn’t try to alienate me from the rest of the Freedom Writers.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
The more people dislike him, the more loudly announces he’s actually a deeply moral person, which is an obnoxious and off-putting lie that alienates people more.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
I stand up and talk about policy change, even when it alienates my allies.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
“I’m trying not to do anything that alienates anyone,” she said.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 16, 2023
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
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
A public feud with his stepmother, former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro—one of the conservative movement’s most popular figures among women and evangelical voters—has also alienated some voters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 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
Thus the students already at risk, already suffering, have become suspects, linked in various thoughtless ways to mass murder and—consequently—more alienated than before.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
Whether you’re a young politician looking to avoid alienating your peers, or a senior representative not looking to upset the apple cart, there’s little incentive to squabble over the way things have always been done.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 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
"He's navigating a very fine line between keeping his constituents happy and not angering or alienating President Trump," he told the BBC.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 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
She said my alienating the family would one day seem foolish to me, as it did to her.
From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King
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.
