What does "abalienate" mean?

1. (to transfer property) to give or sell your property or rights to another person. 2. (to estrange) to make someone stop feeling friendly or connected to you. 3. (to lose mental focus) to cause someone to lose their mind or ability to think clearly.

abalienate

abalien·ate

1 to transfer property (v.)
C2 Proficiency Archaic Formal Technical Law

to give or sell your property or rights to another person.

To transfer the title or ownership of property from one person to another. Transitive; primarily found in historical legal contexts.

Example

The lord chose to abalienate his lands to the local monastery.

Example

The ancient statutes dictated that the monarch could not abalienate crown lands without the express consent of the high council.

Teacher's tip

This term is almost entirely replaced by 'alienate' or 'transfer' in modern legal English; it is best reserved for reading historical texts.
- retain
- keep
2 to estrange (v.)
C2 Proficiency Archaic

to make someone stop feeling friendly or connected to you.

To cause a person to become unfriendly or indifferent; to estrange in affection or loyalty.

Example

His cold behavior began to abalienate his closest friends.

Example

The king's increasingly erratic demands served only to abalienate his most loyal subjects, driving them toward the rebel cause.

Teacher's tip

Modern speakers use 'alienate' or 'estrange' for this concept; 'abalienate' in this sense is considered obsolete.
- estrange
- alienate
- unite
- reconcile

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3 to lose mental focus (v.)
C2 Proficiency Archaic

to cause someone to lose their mind or ability to think clearly.

To cause the loss or perversion of mental faculties or intellect.

Example

The high fever seemed to abalienate his mind for several days.

Example

Medical texts of the era suggested that certain toxins could abalienate the intellect, leaving the patient in a state of permanent confusion.

Teacher's tip

This sense is obsolete and only appears in very old medical or philosophical writing.
- derange
- unsettle

Origin

From Latin abaliēnātus, perfect passive participle of abaliēnō (“alienate; remove”); from ab- (“by, from; away”) + aliēnō (“alienate, estrange”); from aliēnus (“foreign, alien”), from alius (“other, another”). Equivalent to ab- + alienate.

Usage

The verb is transitive and requires a direct object, typically a piece of property or a title.