Alien Definition
ālē-ən, ālyən
aliens
adjective
Owing political allegiance to another country or government; foreign.
Alien residents.
American Heritage
Belonging to another country or people; foreign.
Webster's New World
Belonging to, characteristic of, or constituting another and very different place, society, or person; strange.
American Heritage
Strange; not natural.
Cruel words alien to his lips.
Webster's New World
Dissimilar, inconsistent, or opposed, as in nature.
Emotions alien to her temperament.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
noun
aliens
An unnaturalized foreign resident of a country.
American Heritage
A foreigner.
Webster's New World
A person from another and very different family, people, or place.
American Heritage
A foreign-born resident in a country who has not become a naturalized citizen.
Webster's New World
A person who is not included in a group; an outsider.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
- stranger
- unknown
- noncitizen
- outlander
- foreigner
- intruder
- migratory worker
- foreign national
- stateless person
- tenderfoot
- gaijin (Japanese)
- gringo (Spanish)
- auslander
- man without a country
- interloper
verb
aliens
To transfer (property) to another; alienate.
American Heritage
To transfer (land, property, etc.)
Webster's New World
Origin of Alien
-
Old French alien, aliene, from Latin aliēnus (“belonging to someone else, later exotic, foreign”), from alius (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos.
From Wiktionary
-
Middle English from Old French from Latin aliēnus from alius other al-1 in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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