alienating
Driving others off
Alienating describes something that creates distance, hostility, or estrangement.
An alienating environment makes people feel unwelcome or excluded.
Alienating behavior pushes others away.
The word often appears in criticism of institutions or attitudes that fail to connect with people: The company's alienating policies drove away customers.
Something alienating leaves you feeling like an outsider.
Causing emotional separation
- isolatingSetting apart from contact
- excludingLeaving something out
- ostracizingExcluding from a group
- marginalizingPushing to the fringes
distancing · disconnecting · separating · repelling · disengaging · withdrawing · shunning · rebuffing
Causing sharp division
- contentiousInclined toward disagreement
- antagonizingDeliberately causing hostility
- inflammatoryTending to provoke outrage
- controversialCausing public dispute
discordant · factional · sectarian · partisan · schismatic · splitting · fragmenting · oppositional
Causing mild aversion
- coldLow temperature state
- unwelcomingHostile to guests
- hostileAggressively unfriendly
- unfriendlyNot welcoming or warm
forbidding · unapproachable · distant · detached · impersonal · sterile · uninviting · chilling
From another nation
- strangeUnusual or unfamiliar
- bewilderingCausing utter confusion
- disorientingCausing loss of direction
- jarringDisturbingly incongruous
unsettling · incomprehensible · inaccessible · esoteric · obscure · arcane · abstruse · impenetrable
estranging
Causing emotional separation
- isolatingSetting apart from contact
- excludingLeaving something out
- ostracizingExcluding from a group
marginalizing · distancing · disconnecting · separating · repelling · disengaging · withdrawing · shunning · rebuffing · pushing away
polarizing
Causing sharp division
- contentiousInclined toward disagreement
- antagonizingDeliberately causing hostility
- inflammatoryTending to provoke outrage
controversial · discordant · factional · sectarian · partisan · schismatic · splitting · fragmenting · oppositional · confrontational
off-putting
Causing mild aversion
- coldLow temperature state
- unwelcomingHostile to guests
- hostileAggressively unfriendly
unfriendly · forbidding · unapproachable · distant · detached · impersonal · sterile · uninviting · chilling · disenchanting
foreign
From another nation
- strangeUnusual or unfamiliar
- bewilderingCausing utter confusion
- disorientingCausing loss of direction
jarring · unsettling · incomprehensible · inaccessible · esoteric · obscure · arcane · abstruse · impenetrable · opaque
- driving awayrepelling, banishing, forcing out, warding off, fending off
- discriminationracism, systemic discrimination, Jim Crow laws, sexism, racial harassment
alienatinguniting
Combining into one
bonding · connecting · inclusive · integrating · embracing
alienatingreconciling
Resolving a dispute
conciliatory · conciliative · peacemaking · healing · mollifying
- parental alienationManipulating child against other parent
- social alienationDisconnection from society, self
- cultural alienationDisconnection from one's heritage