alienation

noun

alien·ation | \ˌā-lē-ə-ˈnā-shən,

ˌāl-yə-\

Definition of alienation

1 : a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person's affections from an object or position of former attachment : estrangement alienation … from the values of one's society and family— S. L. Halleck

2 : a conveyance of property to another

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Examples of alienation in a Sentence

after years of alienation from her family, she became reconciled with them when her father fell ill

Recent Examples on the Web

Still, Esther’s main problem is her sense of alienation—a feeling of being out of place among all the energetic college girls eager to take Manhattan in the early 1950s. — Megan Abbott, WSJ, "Five Best: Megan Abbott on Novels About Female Friendship," 9 Aug. 2018 Lum also describes her high school years as a time of alienation. — Liana Satenstein, Vogue, "Actress Awkwafina Brings Her Unbottled Charm to the Silver Screen," 12 July 2018 People familiar with the purple family model tend to view his alienation from his children’s mother as normal and his closeness to his children as exceptional and admirable. — Jeet Heer, The New Republic, "Trump’s sexual misconduct does not embody working class family values.," 2 July 2018 Others acknowledged their own sense of generational alienation. — Zach Schonfeld, Newsweek, "Am I a Millennial? Caught Between Generations, 12 People Born in 1981 Reflect on Their Experience," 21 Mar. 2018 But trade is merely a symptom of a larger rearrangement of American alienation from its partners. — Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, "Trump Is Fulfilling Russia’s Dream of Splitting the Western Alliance," 8 June 2018 Image The pool party is a squirmy tour de force embellished with a punctuating zoom and a plangent sense of dread that make Kayla’s isolation feel like alienation. — Bo Burnham, New York Times, "Review: All the Feels, Hurts and Laughs of ‘Eighth Grade’," 11 July 2018 Since then, alienation has become epidemic in the heartland. — Ron Grossman, chicagotribune.com, "The nation's divide over guns is a disturbing echo of the past," 11 June 2018 In recent years hospitals have tried a variety of wellness programs, but there is a sense this approach didn’t treat the causes of physician angst and alienation. — Lucette Lagnado, WSJ, "Hospitals Address Widespread Doctor Burnout," 9 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'alienation.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near alienation

alienation of affection

alienation office

alien corporation

Statistics for alienation

Last Updated

13 Nov 2018

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Time Traveler for alienation

The first known use of alienation was in the 14th century

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More Definitions for alienation

alienation

noun

alien·ation | \ˌā-lē-ə-ˈnā-shən, ˌāl-yə-

Medical Definition of alienation

: a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person's affections from an object or position of former attachment alienation…from the values of one's society and family— S. L. Halleck