What ALIEN means
Not contained in or deriving from the essential nature of something.
That is the short version. Read on for how to say ALIEN, how to use it, and a quick way to make it stick.
ALIEN at a glance
- Word: ALIEN
- Part of speech: adj
- Pronunciation: /ˈeɪliən/
- Meaning: Not contained in or deriving from the essential nature of something.
- Example: An economic theory alien to the spirit of capitalism.
Keep this box in view while you read the rest of the page. A short summary like this is often enough for a quick lookup, and the sections below are for when you want the meaning to actually stay with you.
How to say ALIEN
Pronunciation: /ˈeɪliən/
Part of speech: adj
Say ALIEN out loud a few times. Hearing your own voice say a new word is one of the fastest ways to remember both its sound and its meaning. Try saying it slowly first, then at normal speed, then inside a full sentence. If a part of the pronunciation trips you up, slow down on that part alone before putting the whole word back together.
ALIEN in a sentence
An economic theory alien to the spirit of capitalism.
Notice how ALIEN fits into that sentence as adj. Try swapping in your own subject and see if the sentence still makes sense. If it does, you have understood the meaning of ALIEN, not just memorized it.
Ways to remember ALIEN
A new word sticks better when you do something with it, not just read it.
Say it, then use it. Repeat ALIEN once, then build one sentence of your own with it today.
Connect it to something you know. Think of a moment from your own week where ALIEN could apply, even loosely.
Spell it out. Cover the word, spell ALIEN from memory, then check. This catches the letters your eyes skipped over the first time.
Come back tomorrow. A word reviewed a day later is far more likely to stay than one read once and left.
Notice it in the wild. Once you know ALIEN, you will start spotting it in things you read. Each time you notice it, the meaning gets a little more solid.
Play a board with ALIEN
A definition is easier to keep once you have used the word under a little pressure. Try today's word game, or search for more words like ALIEN with the word finder. Missed a word along the way? The vocabulary quiz is a quick way to check what stuck, and missed words come back around for review instead of disappearing.
For teachers and parents
This page works well as a quick reference before a lesson or a homework check. Look up a word, read the definition and example together, then ask the student to build a new sentence with it. A student who can use ALIEN correctly in a sentence they made up has learned it. One who can only repeat the definition back has not, yet.
A quick classroom routine: put ALIEN on the board, cover the definition, and ask the class to guess the meaning from the example sentence alone. Reveal the real definition after a few guesses. It takes a minute and gets students reasoning about context clues instead of just memorizing.
More words to learn
- Word of the day for a new word every day.
- Vocabulary quiz to test what you remember.
- How to play if you are new to the games on this site.
The letters in ALIEN
- Length: 5 letters
- Vowels: 3 (A, I, E)
- Different letters: 5, all different
- First letter: A, last letter: N
Words built from the same letters
- AGILE: Moving quickly and lightly.
- ALIGN: Place in a line or arrange so as to be parallel or straight.
- ALIKE: Having the same or similar characteristics.
- ALONE: Isolated from others.
- CLEAN: Free from dirt or impurities; or having clean habits.
- FINAL: Not to be altered or undone.
- IDEAL: Constituting or existing only in the form of an idea or mental image or conception.
- LADEN: Filled with a great quantity.