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Glite Dictionary
to feel like an alien

to feel like an alien

2 7.0
To be out of place among the people around you
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : sentirse como un extraño
  • Even though I was born here, I sometimes feel like an alien in my own culture.
  • I feel like an alien here

Examples

  • I don't exactly feel like an alien.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Half the time you feel like an alien in this land.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • I grew up here, yet I feel like an alien.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • I spend most of my time around other people feeling like an alien.

    Blog text (1)

  • I'm with Steve; I feel like an alien in the country where

    Blog text (12)

  • But anyone within ten years of me feels like an alien to converse with.

    Blog text (22)

  • I have recommended this book to EVERYONE and was just so chuffed to find someone writing about the way I think and for me not to feel like an alien just because I don't follow the working crowd!

    Blog text (32)

  • This was a store her mother would have loved, but Celeste, who had difficulty sewing a hem, felt like an alien.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • I did not feel like an alien, but I could not help noticing that the sky, even in the day, had not one like us but two silver-white moons.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • After moving to a new city, I often feel like an alien among my new neighbors.

Synonyms

isolated
vsto feel like an alien
78 4.2

Feeling separated from other people and having little contact

focuses on not fitting in socially with those around rather than contact levels
to feel uncomfortable
vsto feel like an alien
73 1.9

To be physically or emotionally uneasy

refers specifically to not belonging among people rather than general discomfort
out of place
vsto feel like an alien
63 3.5

Feeling uncomfortable because you do not belong in a place or situation

uses a vivid metaphorical image rather than plain wording
out of one's element
vsto feel like an alien
8 7.5

Not comfortable or confident in a new situation

applies to not belonging among people rather than lack of skill or experience
alienated
vsto feel like an alien
6.8

Feeling alone and not part of a group or society

feels not fitting in with people rather than deep social estrangement
to feel like an island
vsto feel like an alien
  • Informal
7.9

To be alone even when other people are near

is about not belonging more generally rather than just being physically alone

Antonyms

to belong
671 1.8

To feel accepted as part of a group

to feel at home
41 2.7

Be comfortable and relaxed as if in your own home

How Alienated

to feel like an alien
  • Informal
2 7.0
alienated
6.8
out of place
63 3.5
uncomfortable
713 1.7
awkward
311 2.7

Surface Forms

feel like an alien infinitive
felt like an alien past
felt like an alien past participle
feeling like an alien present participle
feels like an alien third person singular

Morphology

feel + like + an + alien

The meaning 'to feel as though you do not belong' is transparently built from 'feel' (experience) + the comparative 'like' + 'an alien' (someone foreign or out of place); a learner can derive that you experience similarity to an outsider. This simile-based composition is common cross-linguistically and follows a standard feel + like + NP pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer the intended sense.

Etymology

Feel like an alien comes from the image of an alien, a person from another planet who looks very different and does not fit in. That's why saying you feel like an alien means 'to not belong' or to feel out of place.