alienate
/ˈeɪ.li.ə.neɪt/
alienate adjective: estranged; withdrawn in affection; foreign.
Adjective
alienate (not comparable)
Noun
alienate (plural alienates)
Verb
alienate (third-person singular simple present alienates, present participle alienating, simple past and past participle alienated)
- To convey or transfer to another, as title, property, or right; to part voluntarily with ownership of.
- To estrange; to withdraw affections or attention from; to make indifferent or averse, where love or friendship before subsisted.
- The errors which […] alienated a loyal gentry and priesthood from the House of Stuart.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, 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...
- The recollection of his former life is a dream that only the more alienates him from the realities of the present.1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- estrange, antagonize, isolate, marginalize
- To cause one to feel unable to relate.
alienate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
alienate in Hindi
- to alienate, push away
- उखाड़ना ukhāṛnā
alienate in Tamil
- உறவு அல்லது நட்பைப் பிரி, பகையாக்கு, தனிமைப் படுத்து, அயடைவு செய், அயன்மைப்படுத்து, உடைமை மாற்று
alienate in Urdu
- برگشتہ کرنا, بیگانہ بنانا, مُخالِف بنانا, دُور کَر دینا, بے گانگی, اِنحِراف اِختِیار کَرنا
alienate in Bengali
- শক্তি, অধিকার হস্তান্তর করা
More languagesFewer languages
- alienate in Telugu
- పరాయీకరించడానికి
- alienate in Malayalam
- അന്യാധീനപ്പെടുത്തുക, അകറ്റുക, പിണക്കുക, ദുരുപയോഗപ്പെടുത്തുക
- alienate in Kannada
- ಅಗಲಿಸು, ದೂರಮಾಡು, ಅನಾದರಿಸು, ಹೊರತುಪಡಿಸು
Examples of alienate in a sentence
- Much of the language used when discussing wedding planning is heteronormative, which can alienate homosexual couples.
- A corporate takeover of this project is likely to alienate the user base.
- Senior citizens are our core market at present, and we can't afford to alienate them as we explore other markets.
Synonyms of alienate
Antonyms
Forms of alienate
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | alienates |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | alienates |
| present participle | alienating |
| past participle | alienated |
| past | alienated |
Origin of alienate
From Middle English alienat(e) (“deranged; uncertain; sequestred, secluded”), from Latin aliēnātus, perfect passive participle of aliēnō (“to estrange, alienate”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from aliēnus. By surface analysis, alien + -ate. See alien, and compare aliene.
From a substantivation of the above adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Cognate with French aliéner (“a crazed, mad man, lunatic”).
Either from the above adjective or directly borrowed from Latin alienātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Cognate with French aliéner.
Words formed from alienate
Questions about alienate
- What does alienate mean?
- Alienate means estranged; withdrawn in affection; foreign.
- What is alienate in Hindi?
- Alienate in Hindi is उखाड़ना (ukhāṛnā). See Alienate meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is alienate?
- Alienate can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce alienate?
- Alienate is pronounced /ˈeɪ.li.ə.neɪt/.
Words near alienate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: alienate (page history and authors); उखाड़ना (Hindi) (page history and authors); alienate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); alienate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); alienate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); alienate (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); alienate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); alienate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-alienate.wav.
Cite this entry: “alienate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/alienate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.