English

Adjective

alienans ‎(not comparable)

1. (rhetoric, philosophy, of a grammatical modifier, especially an adjective) Negating, denying, or casting doubt on the applicability of its modificand.

   The newspaper never called him "the murderer", always "the alleged murderer", but the alienans adjective didn't help very much: the word "murderer" is all people saw.

   Because a "decoy duck" is not a duck, "decoy" is an alienans adjective.

   In the case of "brown duck", "brown" is not an alienans adjective.

Noun

alienans ‎(plural alienantes or alienans)

1. (rhetoric, philosophy) An alienans adjective.

See also

• modal
• modality

References

Alienans. (n.d.). The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Retrieved August 22, 2007, from Answers.com Web site: http://www.answers.com/topic/alienans

Anagrams

• alanines

Latin

Etymology

Present participle of aliēnō.

Participle

aliēnāns m, f, n ‎(genitive aliēnantis); third declension

1. alienating

Inflection

Third declension.

¹When used purely as an adjective.