Library / English Dictionary

ALIENATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Arouse hostility or indifference in where there had formerly been love, affection, or friendliness

Example:

She alienated her friends when she became fanatically religious

Synonyms:

alienate; disaffect; estrange

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "alienate" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "alienate"):

drift apart; drift away (lose personal contact over time)

wean (detach the affections of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to alienate Sue

Derivation:

alienator (an unpleasant person who causes friendly people to become indifferent or unfriendly or hostile)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make withdrawn or isolated or emotionally dissociated

Example:

the boring work alienated his employees

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "alienate" is one way to...):

affect; impress; move; strike (have an emotional or cognitive impact upon)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Transfer property or ownership

Example:

The will aliened the property to the heirs

Synonyms:

alien; alienate

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "alienate" is one way to...):

transfer (cause to change ownership)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

alienable (transferable to another owner)

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