alienist

[eyl-yuh-nist, ey-lee-uh-]

noun

(formerly) a doctor specializing in the treatment of mental illness.

an expert witness in a sanity trial.

Origin of alienist

1860–65; alien(ation) + -ist; compare French aliéniste in same sense

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for alienist

Historical Examples of alienist

Why might not Allonby have deceived him as to the alienist's diagnosis?
The Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton, Part 1 (of 10)
Edith Wharton
The English poet's plays are a perfect storehouse of examples for the alienist.
Iconoclasts
James Huneker
To the alienist and the criminal anthropologist it is a social pathology.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, October 1899
Various
No doctor, no alienist, would have pronounced him mad, of course.
The Brightener
C. N. Williamson
I feel that she is likely to get an alienist in at any time.
Outside Inn
Ethel M. Kelley

British Dictionary definitions for alienist

alienist

noun

US a psychiatrist who specializes in the legal aspects of mental illness

obsolete a person who practises alienism

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

Word Origin and History for alienist

"one who treats mental illness, 'mad doctor,' " 1864, from French aliéniste, from alienation in the sense of "insanity, loss of mental faculty," a sense attested in English from late 15c. (see alienate).

alienist in Medicine

alienist

[āl′yə-nĭst, ā′lē-ə-]

n.

A physician accepted by a court of law as an expert on the mental competence of principals or witnesses.