estrange
Americanverb (used with object)
-
estranges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
estranged,
past participle, past
-
estranging
present participle
-
to turn away in feeling or affection; make unfriendly or hostile; alienate the affections of.
Their quarrel estranged the two friends.
-
to remove to or keep at a distance.
The necessity for traveling on business has estranged him from his family.
-
to divert from the original use or possessor.
verb
-
to separate and live apart from (one's spouse)
he is estranged from his wife
-
to antagonize or lose the affection of (someone previously friendly); alienate
Synonym Usage
Estrange, alienate, disaffect share the sense of causing (someone) to turn away from a previously held state of affection, comradeship, or allegiance. Estrange often implies replacement of love or belonging by apathy or hostility: erstwhile lovers estranged by a misunderstanding. Alienate often calls attention to the cause of antagonism or separation: His inconsiderate behavior alienated both friends and family. Disaffect usually refers to relationships involving allegiance or loyalty rather than love or affection: disaffected workers, demoralized by ill-considered management policies.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
estrangesimple
-
estrangessimple
-
have estrangedperfect
-
has estrangedperfect
-
am estrangingprogressive
-
are estrangingprogressive
-
is estrangingprogressive
-
have been estrangingperfect progressive
-
has been estrangingperfect progressive
Past
-
estrangedsimple
-
had estrangedperfect
-
was estrangingprogressive
-
were estrangingprogressive
-
had been estrangingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of estrange
First recorded in 1475–85; from Middle French, Old French estranger; cognate with Portuguese estranhar, Spanish estrañar, Italian straniare, from Medieval Latin extrāneāre “to treat as a stranger,” derivative of Latin extrāneus “external, foreign, strange”; see extraneous
Explanation
To estrange people may sound like adding wobbly antennae and an extra eyeball to their faces. Really, estrange means to push apart people who were once close to each other and cause them to be like strangers. The verb estrange comes from the Old French estranger, "to treat like a stranger.” Estrange is often used when talking about family members who are no longer in contact with each other. Estrange can also mean "to keep at a distance or remove." With this sense, a writer can estrange readers by using too many big words your can talk about wanting to estrange the neighbor’s dog from your flowerbed. If you're looking for a synonym that is less “strange” but more “alien,” try alienate.
Vocabulary lists containing estrange
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Born a Crime
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"The Iliad" by Homer, Book 1
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Research shows that adults who estrange themselves from relatives often do so "with a great amount of care and consideration over time," she says.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Translation was for him a ferrying across borders and a way of hearing one language estrange another.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
"Children who choose to estrange themselves aren't making a little decision on a whim," explained Joshua Stein, a researcher who tracks online trends, especially those that intersect with psychology and bioethics.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2024
Another reason I spend more time advising those who estrange vs. those who have been estranged?
From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2022
But for Edmund, the one person who showed me any affection, the one who held faithfully by me, in spite of all that was done to estrange us, I could not have borne the life.
From Fickle Fortune by Elisabeth Burstenbinder (AKA E. Werner)
She transforms herself from “a wild, hatless little savage” into a lady, which estranges her from her childhood companion and besotted admirer, Heathcliff, a foundling who lives with her family.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
There exists an invisible line that estranges us both emotionally and, often physically, from the rest of the society.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 17, 2019
Ultimately, this thing is just another machine that estranges us from the ingredients that make up the food and drinks that we consume.
From Slate ● Nov. 15, 2018
Meekness, he said, “enables us to set aside everything that divides and estranges us, and to find ever new ways to advance along the path of unity.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 1, 2016
In the past nothing dies, nothing changes, In the past all is lovely and still; No grief nor fate that estranges, Nor hope that no life can fulfil, But ethereal shelter from ill.
From Confessions of a Young Man by George (George Augustus) Moore
It was an epic remembrance, with feelings complicated by the fact that Mastodon was estranged from Hinds at the time of his death at 51 from a motorcycle crash in 2025.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
When I interview parents who are estranged from their adult children, many say: “My child cut me off out of the blue. I didn’t see it coming.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
The estranged spouses share one child and separated last summer, according to court documents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Young people on Universal Credit who have previously worked for six months, have health issues or care responsibilities or are estranged would be exempt.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
As in: Alexis’s mom and dad are estranged.
From "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander
By estranging me from the world, derealization, paradoxically, makes it more real.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 14, 2022
But the path to that point, the means of establishing what an I.O.C. spokesman called a “parallel world” inside the Games, has had an unmistakably estranging effect.
From New York Times ● Aug. 7, 2021
These are not cognitively estranging phenomena in the manner of cyberspace, for instance, the technical workings of which most of us simply don’t understand.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 6, 2019
Lenz’s film reveals how Kusama’s life has been if anything more estranging than her obsessive work, and the ways in which one informs the other.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 23, 2018
What can there be But everlasting horror 'twixt us two, Gulfs of estranging blood?
From Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold by Matthew Arnold
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
