alien

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a person who comes from a foreign country; someone who does not owe allegiance to your country
  2. noun anyone who does not belong in the environment in which they are found
  3. noun a form of life assumed to exist outside the Earth or its atmosphere

Etymology

From Middle English alien, a borrowing from Old French alien, aliene, from Latin aliēnus (“belonging to someone else”, later “exotic, foreign”), from Latin alius (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos. Related to English else.

In classic literature

Synonyms

foreigner, noncitizen, outlander

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