alien: Meaning and Definition of

al•ien

Pronunciation: (āl'yun, ā'lē-un), [key]
— n.
  1. a resident born in or belonging to another country who has not acquired citizenship by naturalization (distinguished from citizen).
  2. a foreigner.
  3. a person who has been estranged or excluded.
  4. a creature from outer space; extraterrestrial.
—adj.
  1. residing under a government or in a country other than that of one's birth without having or obtaining the status of citizenship there.
  2. belonging or relating to aliens: alien property.
  3. unlike one's own; strange; not belonging to one: alien speech.
  4. adverse; hostile; opposed (usually fol. by to or from): ideas alien to modern thinking.
  5. extraterrestrial.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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