a person who comes from a foreign country; someone who does not owe allegiance to your country
"The new employee felt like an alien in our small town since he had just moved here from another country."
a form of life assumed to exist outside the Earth or its atmosphere
"After years of searching, the astronomers remain skeptical that any alien life exists beyond our solar system."
Any life form of extraterrestrial or extradimensional origin.
"The astronomers claimed to have detected signals from an alien civilization orbiting a distant star."
In plain English: An alien is a person who lives in a country other than their own.
"The movie was about an alien landing on Earth."
Usage: Use "alien" to refer to a creature from outer space or another dimension, not as an adjective describing someone who is strange or unfamiliar. In everyday conversation, it specifically denotes non-human beings visiting Earth rather than people with different cultural backgrounds.
To estrange; to alienate.
"Her constant criticism of his career choices began to alienate even his closest friends from their shared goals."
In plain English: To alienate someone means to make them feel so distant or rejected that they no longer want to be around you.
"The new software update will alien many long-time users who prefer the old interface."
Usage: Use the verb alien to describe the act of making someone feel like an outsider or causing them to lose interest in something familiar. It is typically used when explaining how difficult circumstances or actions drive people away from a group or idea.
Not belonging to the same country, land, or government, or to the citizens or subjects thereof; foreign.
"The alien documents he found in his late neighbor's attic turned out to be official records from a neighboring province rather than federal papers."
In plain English: Alien means something that is strange, unfamiliar, or very different from what you expect.
"The aliens landed on Mars yesterday."
Usage: Use "alien" as an adjective to describe something that originates from or belongs to another country, such as alien laws or alien customs. Avoid using it for non-human extraterrestrials in casual conversation, as that is its specific scientific or sci-fi meaning.
The word "alien" entered Middle English from Old French and originally meant "belonging to someone else." Its meaning later shifted to describe something exotic or foreign, derived from the Latin root for "other."