ALIENATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does alienation mean? 

• ALIENATION (noun)
  The noun ALIENATION has 4 senses:

1. the feeling of being alienated from other people

2. separation resulting from hostility

3. (law) the voluntary and absolute transfer of title and possession of real property from one person to another

4. the action of alienating; the action of causing to become unfriendly

  Familiarity information: ALIENATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ALIENATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The feeling of being alienated from other people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

alienation; disaffection; estrangement

Hypernyms ("alienation" is a kind of...):

dislike (a feeling of aversion or antipathy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alienation"):

isolation (a feeling of being disliked and alone)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Separation resulting from hostility

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

alienation; estrangement

Hypernyms ("alienation" is a kind of...):

isolation (a state of separation between persons or groups)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(law) the voluntary and absolute transfer of title and possession of real property from one person to another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the power of alienation is an essential ingredient of ownership

Hypernyms ("alienation" is a kind of...):

transfer; transference (transferring ownership)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The action of alienating; the action of causing to become unfriendly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

his behavior alienated the other students

Hypernyms ("alienation" is a kind of...):

action (something done (usually as opposed to something said))

 Context examples 

Martin's alienation from his family continued.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Sympathies, I believe, exist (for instance, between far-distant, long-absent, wholly estranged relatives asserting, notwithstanding their alienation, the unity of the source to which each traces his origin) whose workings baffle mortal comprehension.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Events of every description, changes, alienations, removals—all, all must be comprised in it, and oblivion of the past— how natural, how certain too!

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

“Though harrowing to myself to mention, the alienation of Mr. Micawber (formerly so domesticated) from his wife and family, is the cause of my addressing my unhappy appeal to Mr. Traddles, and soliciting his best indulgence. Mr. T. can form no adequate idea of the change in Mr. Micawber's conduct, of his wildness, of his violence. It has gradually augmented, until it assumes the appearance of aberration of intellect. Scarcely a day passes, I assure Mr. Traddles, on which some paroxysm does not take place. Mr. T. will not require me to depict my feelings, when I inform him that I have become accustomed to hear Mr. Micawber assert that he has sold himself to the D. Mystery and secrecy have long been his principal characteristic, have long replaced unlimited confidence. The slightest provocation, even being asked if there is anything he would prefer for dinner, causes him to express a wish for a separation. Last night, on being childishly solicited for twopence, to buy “lemon-stunners”—a local sweetmeat—he presented an oyster-knife at the twins!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)