alienate

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeɪ.li.ə.neɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English alienat, from Latin aliēnātus, perfect passive participle of aliēnō (“alienate, estrange”), from aliēnus, by surface analysis, alien +‎ -ate (adjective-forming suffix). See alien, and compare aliene.

Adjective

alienate (not comparable)

1. (archaic, followed by "from") Estranged; withdrawn in affection; foreign
   • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, line 4643:

     O alienate from God.

Etymology 2

From a substantivation of the above adjective of or its former forms. Equivalent to alien +‎ -ate (noun-forming suffix)

Noun

alienate (plural alienates)

1. (obsolete) A stranger; an alien.

Etymology 3

From alien +‎ -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Verb

alienate (third-person singular simple present alienates, present participle alienating, simple past and past participle alienated)

1. To convey or transfer to another, as title, property, or right; to part voluntarily with ownership of.
2. To estrange; to withdraw affections or attention from; to make indifferent or averse, where love or friendship before subsisted.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 1, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     The errors which […] alienated a loyal gentry and priesthood from the House of Stuart.

   • 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:

     The recollection of his former life is a dream that only the more alienates him from the realities of the present.

   • 1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn:

     The Communists had considerable influence in the Labour Party in the years 1920–26 and 1935–9. Their chief importance, and that of the whole left wing of the Labour movement, was the part they played in alienating the middle classes from Socialism.

   • 2023 March 22, Mike Esbester, “Staff, the public and industry will suffer”, in RAIL, number 979, page 39:

     In April and early May, the NUR and ASLEF threatened a three-day strike. Opinion on this was divided, both within the unions and among the public. Commentators saw the strike as likely to alienate the public and unlikely to win significant changes in terms of closures and job losses.

3. To cause one to feel unable to relate.

Usage notes

Alienate is largely synonymous with estrange. However, alienate is used primarily to refer to driving off (“he alienated her with his atrocious behavior”) or to offend a group (“the imprudent remarks alienated the urban demographic”), while estrange is used rather to mean “cut off relations”, particularly in a family setting.

Synonyms

• (estrange): estrange, antagonize, isolate, marginalize

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “estrange”): accept, befriend

Derived terms

• abalienate
• realienate
• unalienate

 

Translations

to convey or transfer

• Catalan: alienar (ca)
• Czech: převést (cs) pf
• Dutch: vervreemden (nl)
• Finnish: siirtää (fi)
• French: aliéner (fr)
• Galician: allear (gl)
• Italian: alienare (it), cedere (it), vendere (it), trasferire (it)
• Latvian: atsavināt
• Macedonian: о́туѓи (ótuǵi)
• Maori: whakarere rawa
• Norwegian: fremmedgjøre (no)
• Polish: alienować (pl) impf
• Portuguese: alienar (pt)
• Russian: отчужда́ть (ru) impf (otčuždátʹ), отчуди́ть (ru) pf (otčudítʹ)
• Spanish: alienar (es), enajenar (es)
• Ukrainian: відчу́жувати impf (vidčúžuvaty), відчу́жити pf (vidčúžyty)

to estrange

• Catalan: alienar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 疏遠／疏远 (zh) (shūyuǎn)

• Czech: odcizit (cs), odtrhnout (cs) pf, znepřátelit si pf
• Danish: fremmedgøre
• Dutch: vervreemden (nl)
• Esperanto: fremdigi
• Faroese: styggja frá sær
• Finnish: vieraannuttaa
• French: aliéner (fr)
• Galician: alienar
• German: befremden (de), entfremden (de)
• Gothic: 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌸𐌾𐌰𐌽 (framaþjan)
• Greek: αποξενώνω (el) (apoxenóno)
• Hebrew: ניכר (nikér)
• Italian: estraniarsi (it), allontanarsi (it)
• Japanese: 疎む (utomu), 疎んじる (utonjiru), 疎外する (ja) (sogai suru), 仲間外れにする (ja) (nakamahazure ni suru), ハブにする (ja) (habu ni suru)
• Latin: aliēnō, abaliēnō
• Latvian: atsvešināt
• Macedonian: о́туѓи (ótuǵi)
• Maltese: barra
• Maori: whakakaikiri
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fremmedgjøre (no)

• Old English: āfremdan
• Polish: alienować (pl) impf, wyalienować (pl) pf, zalienować pf
• Portuguese: alienar (pt)
• Russian: отчужда́ть (ru) impf (otčuždátʹ), отчуди́ть (ru) pf (otčudítʹ); отвраща́ть (ru) impf (otvraščátʹ), отврати́ть (ru) pf (otvratítʹ); отдаля́ть (ru) impf (otdaljátʹ), отдали́ть (ru) pf (otdalítʹ)
• Spanish: alienar (es)
• Ukrainian: відчу́жувати impf (vidčúžuvaty), відчу́жити pf (vidčúžyty)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} отчуждавам (bg) (otčuždavam)
• German: ^{(please verify)} entfremden (de)
• Gilbertese: ^{(please verify)} bure
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} alienare (it)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} abaliēnō, ^{(please verify)} aliēnō

References

• “alienate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Italian

Etymology 1

Adjective

alienate f pl

1. feminine plural of alienato

Participle

alienate f pl

1. feminine plural of alienato

Etymology 2

Noun

alienate f

1. plural of alienata

Etymology 3

Verb

alienate

1. inflection of alienare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Anagrams

• aleniate, aneliate

Latin

Verb

aliēnāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of aliēnō

Middle English

Adjective

alienate

1. Alternative form of alienat

Spanish

Verb

alienate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of alienar combined with te