What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

What is the difference between alienate and ostracize?

alienate | ostracize |

As verbs the difference between alienate and ostracize

is that alienate is to convey or transfer to another, as title, property, or right; to part voluntarily with ownership of while ostracize is to exclude (a person) from society or from a community, by not communicating with (them) or by refusing to acknowledge (their) presence; to refuse to talk to or associate with; to shun.

As an adjective alienate

is estranged; withdrawn in affection; foreign; with from.

As a noun alienate

is a stranger; an alien.

alienate

English

Adjective

(-)
  • Estranged; withdrawn in affection; foreign; with from .
  • O alienate from God''. (John Milton). ''Paradise Lost line 4643.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A stranger; an alien.
  • Verb

    (alienat)
  • To convey or transfer to another, as title, property, or right; to part voluntarily with ownership of.
  • To estrange; to withdraw affections or attention from; to make indifferent or averse, where love or friendship before subsisted; to wean.
  • * (rfdate) (Thomas Babington Macaulay):
  • The errors which alienated a loyal gentry and priesthood from the House of Stuart.
  • * (rfdate) (Isaac Taylor):
  • The recollection of his former life is a dream that only the more alienates him from the realities of the present.

    Usage notes

    Alienate'' is largely synonymous with estrange. However, ''alienate'' is used primarily to refer to driving off (“he ''alienated'' her with his atrocious behavior”) or to offend a group (“the imprudent remarks ''alienated'' the urban demographic”), while ''estrange is used rather to mean “cut off relations”, particularly in a family setting.

    Synonyms

    * (estrange) estrange, antagonize, isolate

    References

    * ----

    ostracize

    English

    Alternative forms

    * ostracise (non-Oxford British spelling)

    Verb

  • To exclude (a person) from society or from a community, by not communicating with (them) or by refusing to acknowledge (their) presence; to refuse to talk to or associate with; to shun.
  • * 2003 , Cele C. Otnes, Elizabeth Hafkin Pleck, Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding ,
  • Lesbian studies scholar Ramona Oswald has extended this criticism by arguing that traditions such as the bouquet toss and the "singles" table at the wedding reception often marginalize and ostracize lesbians and gays in attendance.
  • * '>citation
  • * 2007 , Petra Hauf and Friedrich Försterling (editors), Making Minds: The shaping of human minds through social context ,
  • Children ostracize' other children in the playground, choosing carefully who they wish to play with. Adults ' ostracize other adults, such as marriage partners using the silent treatment.
  • (lb) To ban a person from the city of (l) for ten years.
  • See also

    * cut someone dead * silent treatment