Alienate
To cause someone to feel isolated or estranged; to transfer ownership or rights to another party (less common in everyday usage).
verbAlienate
To cause someone to feel isolated or estranged; to transfer ownership or rights to another party (less common in everyday usage).
verbImagine This
Imagine a close-knit group where a manager repeatedly criticizes a member in public. Over time, that person stops joining meetings, feels left out, and slowly withdraws because they’ve been pushed away and made to feel like an outsider.
Sounds Like
AY-lee-uh-nayt
Looks Like
alien + ate
Remember This
Alienate literally means to create distance or foreignness between people. The social sense (to make someone feel alien) is far more common in SAT contexts than the legal sense of transferring ownership.
Other Forms
Connect With
estrange, distance, isolate, disaffect; alienation; ostracize
Note
Usages: 1) social/relational estrangement (most common on SAT). 2) legal transfer of ownership (rare outside law contexts). Do not confuse with ‘isolate’; alienate emphasizes causing someone to feel estranged rather than merely being separated.