alienate

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb arouse hostility or indifference in where there had formerly been love, affection, or friendliness
  2. verb transfer property or ownership
  3. verb make withdrawn or isolated or emotionally dissociated

Etymology

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

estrange, alien, disaffect

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