Alien


a resident born in or belonging to another country who has not acquired citizenship by naturalization (distinguished from ).
a foreigner.
a person who has been estranged or excluded.
a creature from outer space; .
residing under a government or in a country other than that of one’s birth without having or obtaining the status of citizenship there.
belonging or relating to aliens:
alien property.
unlike one’s own; strange; not belonging to one:
alien speech.
adverse; hostile; opposed (usually followed by to or from):
ideas alien to modern thinking.
.
Contemporary Examples

I think I thought that it was some weird, alien thing that took you away from connecting with each other.
Alicia Silverstone, Amy Heckerling Talk ‘Vamps’ & ‘Clueless’ Memories Marlow Stern October 31, 2012

But he is not an alien, nor is he a Muslim, nor can his views be explained by Kenyan anti-colonialism.
Wake Up, Huck: Obama Didn’t Grow Up in Kenya! Mark McKinnon March 2, 2011

“Rain, sleet, snow, shark, alien invasions, whatever,” Dobles says.
Send This Hurricane Sandy Victim a Card, Please Michael Daly December 8, 2012

But qat is alien, both in the West and in China, and that makes it an easy target.
Chinese Getting Hooked on the Middle East’s Favorite Drug Brendon Hong October 19, 2014

My face actually looked like it was covered in alien afterbirth.
I Got a $180 Bird-Poop Facial Kelsey Meany August 5, 2013

Historical Examples

The fifth had such an odd outline that Travis was reminded of Menlik’s sketch of the alien.
The Defiant Agents Andre Alice Norton

Let me tell you, Mr. Cross, we are really in an alien country here.
In the Valley Harold Frederic

The rule of the alien and the negro was complete, with the latter holding the lions share of the offices.
The Dixie Book of Days Matthew Page Andrews

They were quiet for a while, and then Marsh turned to Henry and said, “Is that alien to you?”
Changing Winds St. John G. Ervine

Antiseptic gauze and hot-water bottles were as alien as the Germans to her.
Young Hilda at the Wars Arthur Gleason

noun
a person owing allegiance to a country other than that in which he lives; foreigner
any being or thing foreign to the environment in which it now exists
(in science fiction) a being from another world, sometimes specifically an extraterrestrial
adjective
unnaturalized; foreign
having foreign allegiance: alien territory
unfamiliar; strange: an alien quality in a work of art
(postpositive) and foll by to. repugnant or opposed (to): war is alien to his philosophy
(in science fiction) of or from another world
verb
(transitive) (rare) to transfer (property, etc) to another
adj.

mid-14c., “strange, foreign,” from Old French alien “alien, strange, foreign; an alien, stranger, foreigner,” from Latin alienus “of or belonging to another, foreign, alien, strange,” also, as a noun, “a stranger, foreigner,” adjectival form of alius “(an)other” (see alias). Meaning “not of the Earth” first recorded 1920. An alien priory (c.1500) is one owing obedience to a mother abbey in a foreign country.
n.

“foreigner, citizen of a foreign land,” from alien (adj.). In the science fiction sense, from 1953.
alien
(ā’lē-ən)
Introduced to a region deliberately or accidentally by humans. Starlings, German cockroaches, and dandelions are species that are alien to North America but have become widely naturalized in the continent. Compare endemic, indigenous.

a foreigner, or person born in another country, and therefore not entitled to the rights and privileges of the country where he resides. Among the Hebrews there were two classes of aliens. (1.) Those who were strangers generally, and who owned no landed property. (2.) Strangers dwelling in another country without being naturalized (Lev. 22:10; Ps. 39:12). Both of these classes were to enjoy, under certain conditions, the same rights as other citizens (Lev. 19:33, 34; Deut. 10:19). They might be naturalized and permitted to enter into the congregation of the Lord by submitting to circumcision and abandoning idolatry (Deut. 23:3-8). This term is used (Eph. 2:12) to denote persons who have no interest in Christ.

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