In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.
ESTRANGE
estrange, alienate, disaffect
(verb) arouse hostility or indifference in where there had formerly been love, affection, or friendliness; “She alienated her friends when she became fanatically religious”
estrange
(verb) remove from customary environment or associations; “years of boarding school estranged the child from her home”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
estrange (third-person singular simple present estranges, present participle estranging, simple past and past participle estranged)
(transitive) To cause to feel less close or friendly; alienate. To cease contact with (particularly of a family member or spouse, especially in form estranged).
(transitive) To remove from an accustomed place or set of associations.
Usage notes
Largely synonymous with alienate, estrange is primarily used to mean “cut off relations”, particularly in a family setting, while alienate is rather used to refer to driving off (“he alienated her with his atrocious behavior”) or to offend a group (“the imprudent remarks alienated the urban demographic”).
When speaking of parents being estranged from a child of theirs, disown is frequently used instead, and has a stronger connotation.
Synonyms
• (cause to feel less close): alienate, antagonize, disaffect, isolate
• (remove from an accustomed context): wean
Coordinate terms
• disown
Anagrams
• Sergeant, angerest, enragest, grantees, greatens, negaters, reagents, rentages, reägents, seargent, segreant, sergeant, sternage
Source: Wiktionary
Es*trange", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Estranged; p. pr. & vb. n. Estranging.] Etym: [OF. estrangier to remove, F. Ă©tranger, L. extraneare to treat as a stranger, from extraneus strange. See Strange.]
1. To withdraw; to withhold; hence, reflexively, to keep at a distance; to cease to be familiar and friendly with. We must estrange our belief from everything which is not clearly and distinctly evidenced. Glanvill. Had we . . . estranged ourselves from them in things indifferent. Hooker.
2. To divert from its original use or purpose, or from its former possessor; to alienate. They . . . have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods. Jer. xix. 4.
3. To alienate the affections or confidence of; to turn from attachment to enmity or indifference. I do not know, to this hour, what it is that has estranged him from me. Pope. He . . . had pretended to be estranged from the Whigs, and had promised to act as a spy upon them. Macaulay.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
4 June 2025
LEND
(verb) bestow a quality on; “Her presence lends a certain cachet to the company”; “The music added a lot to the play”; “She brings a special atmosphere to our meetings”; “This adds a light note to the program”
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