alienation

American  

[eyl-yuh-ney-shuhn, ey-lee-uh-] / ˌeɪl yəˈneɪ ʃən, ˌeɪ li ə- /

noun

1. the act of alienating, or of causing someone to become indifferent or hostile.

   The advocacy group fights against prejudice and social alienation of immigrants.

2. the state of being alienated, withdrawn, or isolated from the objective world, as through indifference or disaffection.

   the group's alienation from mainstream society.

3. the act of turning away, transferring, or diverting.

   the alienation of land and resources from African peoples.

4. Law. a transfer of the title to property by one person to another; conveyance.

5. Statistics. the lack of correlation in the variation of two measurable variates over a population.

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alienation British  

/ ˌeɪljəˈneɪʃən, ˌeɪlɪə- /

noun

1. a turning away; estrangement

2. the state of being an outsider or the feeling of being isolated, as from society

3. psychiatry a state in which a person's feelings are inhibited so that eventually both the self and the external world seem unreal

4. law

   1. the transfer of property, as by conveyance or will, into the ownership of another

   2. the right of an owner to dispose of his property

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alienation Cultural  

1. A feeling of separation or isolation. In social science, alienation is associated with the problems caused by rapid social change, such as industrialization and urbanization (see Industrial Revolution), which has broken down traditional relationships among individuals and groups and the goods and services they produce.

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Discover More

Marxism holds that workers in capitalist nations are alienated because they have no claim to ownership of the products they make.

Alienation is most often associated with minorities, the poor, the unemployed, and other groups who have limited power to bring about changes in society.

Other Word Forms

• alienative adjective
• nonalienation noun
• realienation noun

Etymology

Origin of alienation

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin aliēnātiōn- (stem of aliēnātiō ), equivalent to aliēnāt ( us ) ( alienate ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

Never mind the extreme elements of the support, regular fans - the vast, vast majority - feel a profound disconnection, an alienation from what is going on.

From BBC

Today, in an age of digital alienation and loneliness, Inge’s themes are freshly relevant.

From The Wall Street Journal

Tom is gripped by a sense of social as well as marital alienation.

From The Wall Street Journal

Stigma and alienation are unavoidable even in the most progressive quarters.

From Los Angeles Times

Helen’s variety involves New Age obsessions and enough familial alienation to keep her pregnancy secret for months.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• disaffection
• estrangement
• indifference
• separation