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Alienate vs Aloof - What's the difference?

alienate | aloof |

In obsolete terms the difference between alienate and aloof

is that alienate is a stranger; an alien while aloof is away from; clear of.

As a noun alienate

is a stranger; an alien.

As a verb alienate

is to convey or transfer to another, as title, property, or right; to part voluntarily with ownership of.

As an adverb aloof is

at or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.

As a preposition aloof is

away from; clear of.

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  • Estranged; withdrawn in affection; foreign; with from .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

    * ----

    aloof

    English

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.
  • *
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
    • , chapter=2 citation , passage=Mother
  • Without sympathy; unfavorably.
  • *

    • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Reserved and remote; either physically or emotionally distant; standoffish.

    • See also

    * See also

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • (obsolete) away from; clear of
  • * Milton
    • Rivetus would fain work himself aloof these rocks and quicksands.
    (Webster 1913)