alienate
to make indifferent or hostile: By refusing to get a job, he has alienated his entire family.
to cause to be withdrawn or isolated from the objective world: Bullying alienates already shy students from their classmates.
to turn away; transfer or divert: to alienate funds from their intended purpose.
Law. to transfer or convey, as title, property, or other right, to another: to alienate lands.
Origin of alienate
1synonym study For alienate
Other words from alienate
- al·ien·a·tor, noun
- non·al·ien·at·ing, adjective
- re·al·ien·ate, verb (used with object), re·al·ien·at·ed, re·al·ien·at·ing.
- un·al·ien·at·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use alienate in a sentence
This past election, they were hardly mentioned by Republicans fearful of alienating moderates.
It Gets Better—but Mostly if You Live in a Rich, Democratic Country | Jay Michaelson | November 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTGiven the risk of alienating your family for the rest of your life… Yes.
Hongkongers aren't asking to secede from China, but Beijing's faulty calculus is only alienating the city.
Some men, she discovered, even found the process of donating objectifying and alienating.
Today’s Sperm Donor Isn’t a Broke 20-Something | Stephanie Fairyington | September 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTPresuming to interpret and explain events to an elite readership also risked alienating clients.
You talk of drawing, writing, alienating your land; next it will be giving lessons or school teaching.
The Precipice | Ivan GoncharovWhen the gospel is preached without respect for the autonomy and integrity of the individual, the effect is alienating.
Herein is Love | Reuel L. HoweBoth idleness and alienating the gifts of God, are a robbing him of his own.
A Christian Directory (Volume 1 of 4) | Richard BaxterThe brave Post had succeeded in alienating the Ohio Indians.
Historic Highways of America (Vol. 5) | Archer Butler HulbertBy the union of liberality and justice, he acquired the love of the soldiers, without alienating the affections of the people.
The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire | Edward Gibbon
British Dictionary definitions for alienate
/ (ˈeɪljəˌneɪt, ˈeɪlɪə-) /
to cause (a friend, sympathizer, etc) to become indifferent, unfriendly, or hostile; estrange
to turn away; divert: to alienate the affections of a person
law to transfer the ownership of (property, title, etc) to another person
Derived forms of alienate
- alienator, noun
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
Browse