estrange
Americanverb (used with object)
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estranges,
present (3rd person singular)
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estranged,
past participle, past
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estranging
present participle
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to turn away in feeling or affection; make unfriendly or hostile; alienate the affections of.
Their quarrel estranged the two friends.
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to remove to or keep at a distance.
The necessity for traveling on business has estranged him from his family.
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to divert from the original use or possessor.
verb
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to separate and live apart from (one's spouse)
he is estranged from his wife
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to antagonize or lose the affection of (someone previously friendly); alienate
Synonym Usage
Estrange, alienate, disaffect share the sense of causing (someone) to turn away from a previously held state of affection, comradeship, or allegiance. Estrange often implies replacement of love or belonging by apathy or hostility: erstwhile lovers estranged by a misunderstanding. Alienate often calls attention to the cause of antagonism or separation: His inconsiderate behavior alienated both friends and family. Disaffect usually refers to relationships involving allegiance or loyalty rather than love or affection: disaffected workers, demoralized by ill-considered management policies.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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estrangesimple
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estrangessimple
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have estrangedperfect
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has estrangedperfect
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am estrangingprogressive
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are estrangingprogressive
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is estrangingprogressive
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have been estrangingperfect progressive
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has been estrangingperfect progressive
Past
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estrangedsimple
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had estrangedperfect
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was estrangingprogressive
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were estrangingprogressive
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had been estrangingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of estrange
First recorded in 1475–85; from Middle French, Old French estranger; cognate with Portuguese estranhar, Spanish estrañar, Italian straniare, from Medieval Latin extrāneāre “to treat as a stranger,” derivative of Latin extrāneus “external, foreign, strange”; see extraneous
Explanation
To estrange people may sound like adding wobbly antennae and an extra eyeball to their faces. Really, estrange means to push apart people who were once close to each other and cause them to be like strangers. The verb estrange comes from the Old French estranger, "to treat like a stranger.” Estrange is often used when talking about family members who are no longer in contact with each other. Estrange can also mean "to keep at a distance or remove." With this sense, a writer can estrange readers by using too many big words your can talk about wanting to estrange the neighbor’s dog from your flowerbed. If you're looking for a synonym that is less “strange” but more “alien,” try alienate.
Vocabulary lists containing estrange
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"The Iliad" by Homer, Book 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Research shows that adults who estrange themselves from relatives often do so "with a great amount of care and consideration over time," she says.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Translation was for him a ferrying across borders and a way of hearing one language estrange another.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
"Children who choose to estrange themselves aren't making a little decision on a whim," explained Joshua Stein, a researcher who tracks online trends, especially those that intersect with psychology and bioethics.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2024
Novey transports us toward two reckonings: what exactly happened to estrange the women and, later, how Leah will respond to Jean’s legacy of sculptures.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 13, 2023
To withdraw, as the affections; to make indifferent of averse, where love or friendship before subsisted; to estrange; to wean; Ð with from.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster
She transforms herself from “a wild, hatless little savage” into a lady, which estranges her from her childhood companion and besotted admirer, Heathcliff, a foundling who lives with her family.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
“I didn’t see her, and nor was she with her family … It breaks bonds and estranges people.”
From The Guardian ● Dec. 13, 2020
Ultimately, this thing is just another machine that estranges us from the ingredients that make up the food and drinks that we consume.
From Slate ● Nov. 15, 2018
Meekness, he said, “enables us to set aside everything that divides and estranges us, and to find ever new ways to advance along the path of unity.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 1, 2016
Believe me, there's nothing estranges a woman's affection so rapidly as that kind of studied neglect.
From The Simpkins Plot by George A. Birmingham
The author admits they spent most of his adult life estranged.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
Wiley has denied similar allegations from his estranged wife and others.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
Meghan, who has been estranged from her father since before her 2018 wedding, said Friday that she had kept him away from Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet to protect them.
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026
The ad features Acton’s birth mother, with whom Acton has been estranged since she was 12, calling her daughter a liar.
From Slate ● Oct. 24, 2026
There was one woman who seemed to have no immediate family; just one estranged brother.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
“The Exhibit” wants to convey art’s power and mystique without estranging the uninitiated.
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2023
By estranging me from the world, derealization, paradoxically, makes it more real.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 14, 2022
Chu notes that the world is becoming more cognitively estranging.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 6, 2019
She last had that estranging experience watching herself on screen when she made The Hours, channelling Virginia Woolf, and watching the world from behind a prosthetic nose.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 2, 2018
And bade betwixt their shores to be The unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea.
From Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold by Matthew Arnold
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
