[f. ALIEN sb. + -ISM.]
1. The position or profession of being an alien, or foreigner in a country.
a. 1816. Johnson, N. Y. Rep., 381, in Pickering 31. The prisoner … suggested his alienism, which was admitted.
1854. Raikes, Eng. Const., II. 370 (L.). They were generally justified on some plea of war or alienism.
1879. Geo. Eliot, Theo. Such, 342. Their monetary hold on governments is tending to perpetuate in leading Jews a spirit of universal alienism (euphemistically called cosmopolitanism).
2. The study and treatment of mental diseases.
1881. The Nation, 1 Dec., 433/1. As surgery is the very best department in medical science in this country [U.S.], alienism is the very worst.
