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alien

al·ien

alien

 
 
pronunciation:
eI li n [or] eIl yn
parts of speech:
noun, adjective
features:
Word Combinations (noun, adjective), Word History, Word Explorer, Word Parts
part of speech: noun
definition 1: someone who lives in a country who is not a citizen of that country.
Because my parents are aliens, they cannot vote in elections here.
antonyms:
citizen, native
similar words:
foreigner, immigrant, outsider, resident
definition 2: a living being from another planet; extraterrestrial. There is no evidence that aliens exist, but many people believe there is life on other planets.
She had a dream that some friendly aliens took her away in their spaceship.
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part of speech: adjective
definition 1: belonging to another country; foreign.
Pineapple plants are alien to Canada.
synonyms:
exotic, foreign, strange
antonyms:
domestic
definition 2: from a planet other than Earth; extraterrestrial.
He is sure he saw alien spaceships flying over the desert.
definition 3: strange or odd because unfamiliar.
It seems alien to me that my British cousin drives on the left side of the road.
synonyms:
foreign, strange
antonyms:
akin, familiar
similar words:
odd
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derivation: alienness (n.)
Word History
The English word alien comes from a Latin word alienus that means "belonging to another place or person." In the English spoken in the 1300s, "alien" took on the meaning of "foreigner." Six hundred years later, in the 1900s, "alien" began to be used as a word for beings from another planet.
Word Explorer
See
  outer space, space
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