alienating

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al·ien·ate

(āl′yə-nāt′, ā′lē-ə-)

tr.v. al·ien·at·ed, al·ien·at·ing, al·ien·ates

1. To cause to become unfriendly or hostile; estrange: alienate a friend; alienate potential supporters by taking extreme positions.

2. To cause to become withdrawn or unresponsive; isolate or dissociate emotionally: The numbing labor tended to alienate workers.

3. To cause to be transferred; turn away: "He succeeded ... in alienating the affections of my only ward" (Oscar Wilde).

4. Law To transfer (property or a right) to the ownership of another, especially by an act of the owner rather than by inheritance.

[Latin aliēnāre, aliēnāt-, from Latin aliēnus, alien; see alien.]

al′ien·a′tor n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Adj.

alienating - causing hostility or loss of friendliness; "her sudden alienating aloofness"

antagonistic - arousing animosity or hostility; "his antagonistic brusqueness"; "Europe was antagonistic to the Unites States"

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Here is why, for Frye, all literature, even the most wretchedly tragic, the most cynically satirical, and the most alienatingly ironic, can teach us about desire.