alienable

[ eyl-yuh-nuh-buhl, ey-lee-uh- ]

adjectiveLaw.
  1. capable of being sold or transferred.

Origin of alienable

1
1605–15; <French, Middle French aliė́nable from aliė́ner “to sell, transfer” from Latin aliēnāre “to transfer by sale” (see alien) + -able

Other words from alienable

  • al·ien·a·bil·i·ty, noun

Words Nearby alienable

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use alienable in a sentence

  • A man's character, it will be argued, is an alienable personal possession.

  • Only pieces of land together with the appurtenant territorial waters are alienable parts of territory.

  • And so, again, the lords rights under the commendation seem to constitute an alienable and heritable seignory.

    Domesday Book and Beyond | Frederic William Maitland
  • And now we must turn to consider another element in the kings alienable superiority.

    Domesday Book and Beyond | Frederic William Maitland
  • The discovery that he had an alienable superiority over free land and free landowners would sharpen this rule.

    Domesday Book and Beyond | Frederic William Maitland

British Dictionary definitions for alienable

alienable

/ (ˈeɪljənəbəl, ˈeɪlɪə-) /


adjective
  1. law (of property) transferable to another owner

Derived forms of alienable

  • alienability, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012