I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an alien concept (= an idea that is very strange or that does not exist )
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In many countries, queuing for a bus is an alien concept.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
completely
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No one can live on a diet of culture that is completely alien .
quite
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Nevertheless, the notion of collective decision-making about patient care, about priorities and treatment options, is quite alien .
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But this concept is quite alien to Scripture.
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No small feat and something quite alien to ourselves, difficult to imagine.
totally
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To this, fundamentalism as expressed in the articles is totally alien .
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It was totally alien to what I had experienced.
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Technical expressions which are in everyday usage within an occupational group, can be totally alien to outsiders.
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The reply, a weird breathing sound, and an unintelligible, totally alien jabbering.
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The skills needed for this kind of work are almost certainly totally alien to the average businessman.
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There was a professionalism and explosive expertise about the operation totally alien to the loyalist slap-dash, amateur bombers.
■ NOUN
being
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The daleks in question are not enraged alien beings with full metal jackets.
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There was no alien spacecraft, and there were no alien beings and no secret autopsies in the desert in 1947.
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That was exactly how I felt, as if I had been brought up by alien beings , inhuman things.
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In short, he concluded without reservation that the canals were artificial constructs of technologically advanced alien beings .
concept
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With a shrug, he shrugged off alien concepts such as responsibility, maturity, ambition and commitment.
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The idea of keeping appointments was an alien concept .
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Paved roads and mail deliveries are alien concepts .
culture
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Travellers' contact with social work services frequently resulted in the loss of children into care and an alien culture .
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The latter had been undeveloped while I lived in alien cultures .
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But beyond those frontiers are alien cultures which impinge on our own for good or ill.
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He struggled for a moment to remember the rules for first contact with alien cultures .
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I craved the knowledge of what it would be like to attach myself to an alien culture for an extended period.
environment
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They are depressing, alien environments , made more dismal by drab walls and endless corridors.
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The child wasn't wilting in an alien environment .
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In that alien environment , somehow it all makes sense.
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Meeting a group of complete strangers from backgrounds very different to my own, in such an alien environment , was disconcerting.
invader
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Beam to another dimension, alien invaders .
invasion
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This great two-disc version of the alien invasion blockbuster is packed with extras.
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It's the most convincing evidence we have of an alien invasion of this planet, and a matter of public record.
species
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Work has already begun on felling alien species on the 750-hectare Glenmore reserve.
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Compared with them, the novel appears to be a creature from an alien species .
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I watched with interest - it was like observing the gyrations of an alien species , a praying mantis or something.
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Indeed the most dramatic example of mass extinction known to biology has been caused by the introduction of an alien species .
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Nor was its bare face the ethereally lovely, angular visage of that alien species .
territory
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Tom caught my eye behind her back and winked to acknowledge my presence on alien territory .
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This was alien territory , very alien, even for me.
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It's similar to staggering shell-shocked in alien territory occupied solely by foreboding empty skyscrapers.
world
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His decision to send her away from her home and brother into an alien world was interpreted as rejection.
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As Blue begins to read, he feels as though he is entering an alien world .
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Four quiet windows on to an alien world .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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an alien spaceship
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Entire groups were driven from their homes to alien regions.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A parliament possessing real power is alien to the country's every tradition.
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An alien object was threatening the organism.
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By this time, I should not feel alien .
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His decision to send her away from her home and brother into an alien world was interpreted as rejection.
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It is the people of this world who are alien .
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To the rest of Britain, such behavior is not only alien , but alienating.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
illegal
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Demonstrations throughout the city have focused on immigration and an calling for an amnesty for illegal aliens .
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It is the United States that has suffered from millions of impoverished, illegal aliens coming across the lengthy border.
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Border Patrol agents there stopped northbound cars and trucks to search for illegal aliens and drugs.
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In 1994, voters there approved Proposition 187, which restricts education, health and other state services to illegal aliens .
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John Fife, were found guilty in federal court of transporting illegal aliens , conspiracy and other charges.
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The illegal aliens are entitled to this.
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At issue is a provision in the 1986 immigration bill barring the hiring of illegal aliens .
■ NOUN
space
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They actually seem more like space aliens than angels, and maybe they are.
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Sightings of space aliens persist, with several organized groups claiming to have seen them, or even to have been abducted.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Some aliens may qualify for citizenship under the new law.
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The law makes it easier to find and deport illegal aliens.
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These people believe they were kidnapped by aliens.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Apparently we have made contact with aliens!
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I have a boss who is an alien from another planet.
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In 1994, voters there approved Proposition 187, which restricts education, health and other state services to illegal aliens.
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Intrigued, the aliens monitored the few lyrics they could hear rising up from this outdoor roller ritual.
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Let's say that as an alien you arrive in your space-ship, have a bumpy landing and succumb to amnesia.
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The rest of the aliens look at me, look at each other, look down at their food.
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They didn't look ready for aliens.