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   alienation

   /ˌeɪlɪəˈneɪʃn/

   noun

   • 1. the state or experience of being alienated: "a sense of alienation from our environment" Similar isolationdetachmentestrangementdistanceseparationseverancepartingdivisiondivorcecutting offturning awaywithdrawalvariancedifferenceschism
   • ▪ (in Marxist theory) a condition of workers in a capitalist economy, resulting from a lack of identity with the products of their labour and a sense of being controlled or exploited.
   • ▪ a state of depersonalization or loss of identity in which the self seems unreal, thought to be caused by difficulties in relating to society and the resulting prolonged inhibition of emotion.
   • ▪ an effect sought by some dramatists, whereby the audience remains objective and does not identify with the actors.
   • 2. the transfer of the ownership of property rights: "most leases contain restrictions against alienation" Similar transferconveyancepassing onhanding overdevolution

   Word Origin late Middle English: from Latin alienatio(n-), from the verb alienare ‘estrange’, from alienus (see alien). The term alienation effect (1940s) is a translation of German Verfremdungseffekt.

   Scrabble Points: 10

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