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alien

Pronunciation: /ˈeɪlɪən/

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Definition of alien

adjective

  • 1belonging to a foreign country:an alien culture
  • (of a plant or animal species) introduced from another country and later naturalized: many food chains are based upon alien plants
  • 2unfamiliar and disturbing or distasteful:principles that are alien to them they found the world of further education a little alien
  • 3supposedly from another world; extraterrestrial:alien beings an alien spacecraft

noun

  • 1a foreigner, especially one who is not a naturalized citizen of the country where he or she is living:an enemy alien
  • a plant or animal species originally introduced from another country and later naturalized.
  • 2a hypothetical or fictional being from another world: she discovers that the alien’s spaceship has crashed

Derivatives

alienness

Pronunciation: /ˈeɪlɪənnɪs/

noun

Origin:

Middle English: via Old French from Latin alienus 'belonging to another', from alius 'other'

alien in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of alien in the US English dictionary
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