Etymology From Middle English alienat(e) (“deranged; uncertain; sequestred, secluded”), from Latin aliēnātus, perfect passive participle of aliēnō (“to estrange, alienate”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from aliēnus. By surface analysis, alien + -ate. See alien, and compare aliene.
1
Archaic, Followed by "from" Estranged; withdrawn in affection; foreign
O alienate from God.1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, line 4643:
alienate
noun
Etymology From a substantivation of the above adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Cognate with French aliéner (“a crazed, mad man, lunatic”).
Etymology Either from the above adjective or directly borrowed from Latin alienātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Cognate with French aliéner.
1
To convey or transfer to another, as title, property, or right; to part voluntarily with ownership of.
2
To estrange; to withdraw affections or attention from; to make indifferent or averse, where love or friendship before subsisted.
The errors which […] alienated a loyal gentry and priesthood from the House of Stuart.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
The recollection of his former life is a dream that only the more alienates him from the realities of the present.1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:
2 more examples
The Communists had considerable influence in the Labour Party in the years 1920–26 and 1935–9. Their chief importance, and that of the whole left wing of the Labour movement, was the part they played in alienating the middle classes from Socialism.1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn:
In April and early May, the NUR and ASLEF threatened a three-day strike. Opinion on this was divided, both within the unions and among the public. Commentators saw the strike as likely to alienate the public and unlikely to win significant changes in terms of closures and job losses.2023 March 22, Mike Esbester, “Staff, the public and industry will suffer”, in RAIL, number 979, page 39: