Definitions

alienate

[ey-lee-uh-neyt, eyl-yuh-] / ˈeɪ li əˌneɪt, ˈeɪl yə- /

VERB

cause unfriendliness, hostility

Synonyms

STRONGEST

disaffect divide estrange separate turn off

STRONG

disunite divorce part wean

WEAK

break off come between make indifferent push away set against turn away withdraw the affections of

Antonyms

STRONGEST

combine join marry unite

WEAK

be friendly disarm

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Following the collapse of the magazine he was recruited to work on Vanity Fair in New York, an experience that inspired his book "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People".

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2018

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, a comedy starring Simon Pegg as a writer for an upmarket US magazine, returned only £9,977 of the £1,471,145 lottery money invested.

From The Guardian • Jul. 30, 2011

Alienate, āl′yen-āt, v.t. to transfer a right or title to another: to withdraw the affections: to misapply.—adj. withdrawn: estranged.—n.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

If they Sell or Alienate their Inheritances, the Kings accustomed Duties must not be diminished, whosoever buyeth or enjoyeth them.

From An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon in the East Indies Together with an Account of the Detaining in Captivity the Author and Divers other Englishmen Now Living There, and of the Author's Miraculous Escape by Knox, Robert

Alienate not from your body the affections of a whole empire.

From Sketches of Reforms and Reformers, of Great Britain and Ireland by Stanton, Henry B.

Vocabulary lists containing alienate

100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"

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The Devil's Arithmetic

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"Laws are not the only way to boost immunization”: an editorial from Nature

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