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INDO-EUROPEAN & SEMITIC ROOTS APPENDICES
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.
OPEN DICTIONARY PROJECT
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adj. 1. Owing political allegiance to another country or government; foreign: alien residents. 2. Belonging to, characteristic of, or constituting another and very different place, society, or person; strange. See Synonyms at foreign. 3. Dissimilar, inconsistent, or opposed, as in nature: emotions alien to her temperament. n. Law 1. An unnaturalized foreign resident of a country. Also called noncitizen. 2. A person from another and very different family, people, or place. 3. A person who is not included in a group; an outsider. 4. A creature from outer space: science fiction about an invasion of aliens. 5. Ecology An organism, especially a plant or animal, that occurs in or is naturalized in a region to which it is not native. tr.v. a·li·ened, a·li·en·ing, a·li·ens Law To transfer (property) to another; alienate. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin aliēnus, from alius, other; see al-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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