Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Being or from another place or part of the world; foreign: Describes something or someone originating from a different country, culture, or planet.
   • Not contained in or deriving from the essential nature of something; unfamiliar and often distasteful: Describes a quality, idea, or feeling that is completely strange, different, or opposed to what is considered normal or inherent.

2. Noun:

   • A person who comes from a foreign country; someone who does not owe allegiance to your country: A non-citizen or resident from another nation.
   • Anyone who does not belong in the environment in which they are found: A person or creature that is an outsider or feels out of place.
   • A form of life assumed to exist outside the Earth or its atmosphere: An extraterrestrial being.

3. Verb:

   • To arouse hostility or indifference where there had formerly been love, affection, or friendliness: To cause someone to feel isolated or estranged.
   • To transfer property or ownership (Legal): To convey or assign property to another.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • The diplomat had to adjust to alien customs. (The customs were foreign and unfamiliar.)
  • Cruelty is alien to her gentle nature. (Cruelty is completely foreign and opposed to her inherent character.)

• Noun:

  • The new immigration law defined the rights of an alien. (It defined the rights of a foreign national.)
  • He felt like an alien at the fancy party. (He felt like an outsider who did not belong.)
  • The movie is about an alien visiting Earth. (It is about an extraterrestrial being.)

• Verb:

  • His constant negativity began to alien his colleagues. (His behavior caused his colleagues to become distant.)
  • The estate was aliened to a charitable trust. (The property's ownership was legally transferred.)

Advanced Usage

• "alien to" (phrase): Completely unfamiliar, opposed, or not part of something's nature.
  • The concept of failure is alien to him. (He does not understand or accept the concept of failure; it is foreign to his mindset.)

Variants and Related Words

• Alienate (verb): To cause someone to feel isolated or estranged; to transfer ownership of property.
  • Her harsh words alienated her supporters.
• Alienation (noun): The state of being estranged or isolated.
  • He experienced a deep sense of alienation in the new city.
• Alienable (adjective) [Legal]: Capable of being transferred to the ownership of another.
  • The land was considered an alienable asset.

Synonyms

• Adjective: Foreign, exotic, unfamiliar, strange, extraneous.
• Noun: Foreigner, outsider, stranger, extraterrestrial, noncitizen.
• Verb: Estrange, distance, disaffect, transfer, convey.

Related Phrasal Verbs / Constructions

• Alien from (somewhat formal/archaic): Different from; having no relation to.
  • Their goals are alien from our own. (Their goals are completely different from ours.)

Related Idioms

• To feel alien: To feel like a complete outsider.
  • Moving to a new country, she couldn't help but feel alien for the first year.

Adjective

1. being or from or characteristic of another place or part of the world
   • alien customs
   • exotic plants in a greenhouse
   • exotic cuisine
2. not contained in or deriving from the essential nature of something
   • an economic theory alien to the spirit of capitalism
   • the mysticism so foreign to the French mind and temper
   • jealousy is foreign to her nature

Noun

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

Verb

1. arouse hostility or indifference in where there had formerly been love, affection, or friendliness
   • She alienated her friends when she became fanatically religious
2. transfer property or ownership
   • The will aliened the property to the heirs