Dictionary

alienation en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌeɪli.əˈneɪʃən/
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌeɪljəˈneɪʃən/

Etymology

From Middle English alienacioun, from Old French alienacion, from Latin aliēnātiōn(em).

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) The act of alienating.
   • That the mode of alienating their lands, the main source of discontent and war, should be so defined and regulated as to obviate imposition and as far as may be practicable controversy concerning the reality and extent of the alienations which are made. 1897, James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents:
   • Wearing an Audie Murphy black jacket, playing a Chuck Berry guitar, and performing his electrified alienation with passionate indifference, Dylan assassinated the audience. 1965 August, Mississippi Phil Ochs, “The Newport Fuzz Festival”, in The Realist, number 61, retrieved 13 Nov 2022, page 11:
   • The alienation of that viewing demographic is a poor business decision.
2. (uncountable, usually) The state of being alienated.
   • His alienation from his family means he has nowhere to go at Christmas.
   • As Hegel showed, time is the necessary alienation, the terrain where the subject realizes himself by losing himself, becomes other in order to become truly himself. In total contrast, the current form of alienation is imposed on the producers of an estranged present. In this spatial alienation, the society that radically separates the subject from the activity it steals from him is in reality separating him from his own time. 1967, Guy Debord, “Chapter 6”, in Ken Knabb, transl., The Society of the Spectacle, section 161:
   • I refer to the state of our divisions and alienations of spirit on account of religion. 1874, Edward Bannerman Ramsay, Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character:
3. (uncountable, usually) Emotional isolation or dissociation, as from being separated from social connections or estranged from one's family or community; a feeling of being an outsider.
   • To watch it even once is to be distracted, but in an evocative and resonant manner--to be drawn away from Benning's travels and alienations and reminded of one's own. 1992 October 2, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “The Road to Overload”, in Chicago Reader:
   • When parents get divorced, their child sometimes experiences parental alienation, in which they are estranged from the noncustodial parent.
   • But these domestic alienations are not confined to those who once moved in the higher orders of society--the monthly registers announce almost as many divorces as marriages, and the facility of separation has rendered the one little more than a licentious compact, which the other is considered as a means of dissolving. 1797, An English Lady, A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, 2nd edition:
   • I didn't care about anything back then, not holidays or family or my career, I felt utter alienation from everything around me.
4. (uncountable, usually) Verfremdungseffekt.
5. (uncountable, usually) The transfer of property to another person.
   • The most usual and universal method of acquiring a title to real estates is that of alienation, conveyance, or purchase in its limited sense: under which may be comprized any method wherein estates are voluntarily resigned by one man, and accepted by another; whether that be effected by sale, gift, marriage settlement, devise, or other transmission of property by the mutual consent of the parties. 1768, William Blackstone, “Of Title by Alienation”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England:
6. (Marxism, uncountable, usually) The estrangement of people from aspects of their human nature as a consequence of the division of labour and living in a society of stratified social classes (e.g., under capitalism or feudalism).

Forms

Deriveds

realienation · alienation of affection · parental alienation · parental alienation syndrome · nonalienation · social alienation · coefficient of alienation · alienation of affections

Synonyms

estrangement

Translations (85)

fr aliénation (transferal of property) · it alienazione (transferal of property) · es enajenación (transferal of property) · tr yabancılaşma (the state of being alienated) · nl vervreemding (emotional isolation or dissociation) · mt tbarrija (the act of alienating) · nl vervreemd (the state of being alienated) · sh алијена́ција (the act of alienating) · fi vieraannuttaminen (the act of alienating) · pt alienação (emotional isolation or dissociation) · ms penyisihan (transferal of property) · fo avhending (the act of alienating) · pl alienacja (transferal of property) · is firring (emotional isolation or dissociation) · uk віддалення (emotional isolation or dissociation) · fr aliénation (the state of being alienated) · uk відчужування (the act of alienating) · vi tha hoá (estrangement in Marxism) · fr aliénation (emotional isolation or dissociation) · de Entfremdung (the act of alienating) · uk відчуженість (the state of being alienated) · mk отуѓеност (emotional isolation or dissociation) · sh alijenácija (emotional isolation or dissociation) · ru отчужде́ние (emotional isolation or dissociation) · uk віддалення (the act of alienating) · la aliēnātiō (the act of alienating) · ru отчуждённость (emotional isolation or dissociation) · bg отчужде́ние (the state of being alienated) · id keterasingan (the state of being alienated) · sh alijenácija (the act of alienating) · de Entfremdung (estrangement in Marxism) · ru отчужде́ние (the act of alienating) · nl vervreemden (the act of alienating) · cmn 異化 /异化 (estrangement in Marxism) · sh алијена́ција (the state of being alienated) · uk психоз (emotional isolation or dissociation) · de Veräußerung (transferal of property) · fr aliénation (the act of alienating) · ru отчужде́ние (the state of being alienated) · cmn 疏離 /疏离 (the act of alienating) · fi vieraantuminen (the state of being alienated) · mk отуѓеност (the state of being alienated) · fi vieraantuminen (estrangement in Marxism) · sh alijenácija (the state of being alienated) · uk віддалення (the state of being alienated) · ca alienació (the act of alienating) · es alienación (the state of being alienated) · tt ят итү (the act of alienating) · pt alienação (the act of alienating) · nl vervreemding (transferal of property) · uk відчуженість (emotional isolation or dissociation) · pl wyobcowanie (the state of being alienated) · ca alienació (the state of being alienated) · es alienación (the act of alienating) · pl alienacja (the act of alienating) · ang āfremdung (the act of alienating) · ru отчуждённость (the state of being alienated) · cs odcizení (the state of being alienated) · uk відчуження (the state of being alienated) · uk божевілля (emotional isolation or dissociation) · pt alienação (the state of being alienated) · fi luovutus (transferal of property) · ca alienació (emotional isolation or dissociation) · id alienasi (the act of alienating) · sh алијена́ција (emotional isolation or dissociation) · tt читләшү (the act of alienating) · uk відчуження (emotional isolation or dissociation) · es alienación (emotional isolation or dissociation) · tr yabancılaşma (emotional isolation or dissociation) · bg отчуждаване (the act of alienating) · id pengasingan (the act of alienating) · fi vieraantuminen (emotional isolation or dissociation) · pt alheamento (the act of alienating) · id alienasi (the state of being alienated) · pt alienação (transferal of property) · pl alienacja (the state of being alienated) · it alienazione (estrangement in Marxism) · uk відчуження (the act of alienating) · it alienazione (the act of alienating) · it alienazione (the state of being alienated) · uk збайдужіння (emotional isolation or dissociation) · mk отуѓување (the act of alienating) · uk збайдужування (the act of alienating) · ru отдале́ние (the act of alienating) · ms pengasingan (transferal of property)