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alien

 [eyl-yuhn, ey-lee-uhn]   Example Sentences Origin

al·ien

   [eyl-yuhn, ey-lee-uhn]
noun
1.
a resident born in or belonging to another country who has not acquired citizenship by naturalization (distinguished from citizen).
2.
a foreigner.
3.
a person who has been estranged or excluded.
4.
a creature from outer space; extraterrestrial.
adjective
5.
residing under a government or in a country other than that of one's birth without having or obtaining the status of citizenship there.
6.
belonging or relating to aliens: alien property.
7.
unlike one's own; strange; not belonging to one: alien speech.
8.
adverse; hostile; opposed (usually followed by to or from): ideas alien to modern thinking.
9.
extraterrestrial.

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Alien is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
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Origin:
1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Latin aliēnus, equivalent to *alies- (ali-, base of alius other + -es- noun suffix) + -nus adj. suffix

Related forms
non·al·ien, noun, adjective
pro·al·ien, adjective

Synonyms
1. immigrant. 2. See stranger. 3. outcast. 7. exotic, foreign.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To alien
Example Sentences
  • Since the 1960s attempts have been made to do so by sifting through signals from outer space in search of alien chit-chat.
  • The problem of invasive alien species is not unique to Europe.
  • These aliens aren't from outer space.
EXPAND
Collins
World English Dictionary
alien (ˈeɪljən, ˈeɪlɪən)
 
—n
1.  a person owing allegiance to a country other than that in which he lives; foreigner
2.  any being or thing foreign to the environment in which it now exists
3.  (in science fiction) a being from another world, sometimes specifically an extraterrestrial
 
—adj (and foll by to)
4.  unnaturalized; foreign
5.  having foreign allegiance: alien territory
6.  unfamiliar; strange: an alien quality in a work of art
7.  repugnant or opposed (to): war is alien to his philosophy
8.  (in science fiction) of or from another world
 
—vb
9.  rare (tr) to transfer (property, etc) to another
 
[C14: from Latin aliēnus foreign, from alius other]
 
alienage
 
—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

alien
mid-14c., "strange, foreign," from O.Fr. alien, from L. alienus "of or belonging to another," adj. form of alius "(an)other" (see alias). Meaning "of another planet" first recorded 1944 in science fiction writing; the noun in this sense is from 1953. The noun sense of "foreigner"
EXPAND
is first attested early 14c. An alien priory (c.1500) is one owing obedience to a mother abbey in a foreign country.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
alien   (ā'lē-ən)  Pronunciation Key 
Introduced to a region deliberately or accidentally by humans. Starlings, German cockroaches, and dandelions are species that are alien to North America but have become widely naturalized in the continent. Compare endemic, indigenous.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Easton
Bible Dictionary

Alien definition


a foreigner, or person born in another country, and therefore not entitled to the rights and privileges of the country where he resides. Among the Hebrews there were two classes of aliens. (1.) Those who were strangers generally, and who owned no landed property. (2.) Strangers dwelling in another country without being naturalized (Lev. 22:10; Ps. 39:12). Both of these classes were to enjoy, under certain conditions, the same rights as other citizens (Lev. 19:33, 34; Deut. 10:19). They might be naturalized and permitted to enter into the congregation of the Lord by submitting to circumcision and abandoning idolatry (Deut. 23:3-8). This term is used (Eph. 2:12) to denote persons who have no interest in Christ.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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