adjective
Alien, a.
Etymology: [OF. alien, L. alienus, fr. alius another; properly, therefore, belonging to another. See Else.]
1. Not belonging to the same country, land, or government, or to the citizens or subjects thereof; foreign; as, alien subjects, enemies, property, shores.
2. Wholly different in nature; foreign; adverse; inconsistent (with); incongruous; -- followed by from or sometimes by to; as, principles alien from our religion. An alien sound of melancholy. Wordsworth. Alien enemy (Law), one who owes allegiance to a government at war with ours. Abbott.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Alien, n.
1. A foreigner; one owing allegiance, or belonging, to another country; a foreign-born resident of a country in which he does not posses the privileges of a citizen. Hence, a stranger. See Alienage.
2. One excluded from certain privileges; one alienated or estranged; as, aliens from God's mercies. Aliens from the common wealth of Israel. Ephes. ii. 12.
Alien, v. t.
To alienate; to estrange; to transfer, as property or ownership. [R.] "It the son alien lands." Sir M. Hale. The prince was totally aliened from all thoughts of . . . the marriage. Clarendon.
Shades of meaning
Foreign refers to difference of birth, alien to difference of allegiance. In their figurative use, that is foreign which is remote, unlike, or unconnected; that is alien which is conflicting, hostile, or opposed. Impertinent and irrelevant matters can not claim consideration in a certain connection; inappropriate matters could not properly be considered. Compare alien, n.; contrast, v.
Prepositions
Such a purpose was alien to (or from) my thought: to preferable.
noun
Alien, n.
1. A foreigner; one owing allegiance, or belonging, to another country; a foreign-born resident of a country in which he does not posses the privileges of a citizen. Hence, a stranger. See Alienage.
2. One excluded from certain privileges; one alienated or estranged; as, aliens from God's mercies. Aliens from the common wealth of Israel. Ephes. ii. 12.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Alien, a.
1. Not belonging to the same country, land, or government, or to the citizens or subjects thereof; foreign; as, alien subjects, enemies, property, shores.
2. Wholly different in nature; foreign; adverse; inconsistent (with); incongruous; -- followed by from or sometimes by to; as, principles alien from our religion. An alien sound of melancholy. Wordsworth. Alien enemy (Law), one who owes allegiance to a government at war with ours. Abbott.
Alien, v. t.
To alienate; to estrange; to transfer, as property or ownership. [R.] "It the son alien lands." Sir M. Hale. The prince was totally aliened from all thoughts of . . . the marriage. Clarendon.
Shades of meaning
A naturalized citizen is not an alien, though a foreigner by birth, and perhaps a stranger in the place where he resides. A person of foreign birth not naturalized is an alien, though he may have been resident in the country a large part of a lifetime, and ceased to be a stranger to its people or institutions. He is an alien in one country if his allegiance is to another. The people of any country still residing in their own land are, strictly speaking, foreigners to the people of all other countries, rather than aliens; but alien and foreigner are often used synonymously.
Prepositions
Aliens to (more rarely from) our nation and laws; aliens in our land, among our people.