alienate
Americanverb (used with object)
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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to cause to be withdrawn or isolated from the objective world.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:
But Kim cannot afford to alienate his biggest source of aid either.
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026
Chinese policy advisers say doing so would alienate the Global South audience that has become central to Xi’s goal of reshaping the world order in Beijing’s favor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
In doing so, he struck a delicate balance, as he had to shift production in a way that didn’t alienate Chinese consumers or cede market share to domestic Chinese competitors.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 21, 2026
But McLaughlin did not merely alienate the judiciary; she consistently undermined the administration’s legal arguments, sabotaging lawyers’ efforts to cover up unlawful conduct by boasting about it on social media.
From Slate ● Feb. 18, 2026
Without really meaning to, I manage to alienate everyone but the endocrinologists, and even some of them are put off by a remark I made concerning blood calcium levels in hypoparathyroidism.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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
He denies this assessment of his character, along with assertions that he alienates his fellow politicians.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2024
“I’m trying not to do anything that alienates anyone. But I can’t just not do the right thing because I’m scared.”
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 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
"I don't like crowds, I don't like clubs or drinking, so I just felt so alienated by it. Everyone else was looking beautiful and it was just not a great first Pride experience."
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
His military experience “left me feeling very unmoored, it left me feeling very disillusioned, very alienated and very isolated.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
“People are alienated from our current politics not because Americans are cynical, but because people recognize that they deserve better.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026
It also alienated voters in the district who had long supported him.
From Slate ● May 20, 2026
The ship, as the cliché says, was very small, and on the ship, I was correspondingly even more tiny, so that one would think I would feel dwarfed, alienated in some way.
From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen
Any moves by China to tighten its grip on domestic models could risk alienating foreign users and slow global adoption, industry participants said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
As Ethan, Stock was as perversely alienating as he was poignantly alienated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
"They're alienating a hell of a lot of people who are athletics fans and potential stalwarts within the sport."
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
It’s only ironic that the film’s story doesn’t have the same inventive, thoughtful scope, only to avoid alienating anyone watching the movie on their iPad.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026
Worried about alienating the boy, Franz said little during such outbursts and let him rant.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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.
