Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A physician who has been accepted by a court of law as an expert on the mental competence of principals or witnesses appearing before it.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One engaged in the scientific study or treatment of mental diseases.
Wiktionary
- n. An expert in mental illness, especially with reference to legal ramifications.
- n. obsolete A psychiatrist or psychologist.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who treats diseases of the mind.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a psychiatrist and specialist in the legal aspects of mental illness
Etymologies
- From French aliéniste, from aliéné, for insane (Wiktionary)
- French aliéniste, from aliéné, insane, from Latin aliēnātus, past participle of aliēnāre, to deprive of reason; see alienate. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Bucke (1837-1902), an interesting character, rugged adventurer, medical doctor, and "alienist" (psychiatrist) helped set up an "insane asylum" in Canada with quite progressive "treatment" for its time.”
“alienist" study, or giving us a fairly ordinary _étudiant_ and aspirant in letters.”
A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century
“The weapons on the wall had been used in actual homicides and were provided by Chicago policemen; the skulls by an alienist at a nearby lunatic asylum, the blankets by a member who had acquired it while covering a battle between the army and the Sioux.”
“He engages Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, the noted alienist, to solve the murder – off the record, of course.”
“Stevie Taggert, former child of the streets and current employee of the noted alienist Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, is approached by private detective Sara Howard.”
“He also sends his friend Dr. Lefebre, an observant alienist, to check on the emotional well being of the distraught Lucy whose aunts insist she is deranged.”
A Mortal Curiosity-Ann Granger « The Merry Genre Go Round Reviews
“The ancient alienist did not know the doctor as I did: Though by outward sign Warthrop appeared completely calm and collected, within him a fire burned, as hot as the sun, and only by the supreme effort of his inestimable will was the doctor able to contain it.”
““So you have taken up his odd profession,” ventured the alienist.”
“The doctor handed her his card and twenty dollars in gold, and presently we were escorted to the little parlor with its odiferous atmosphere and tired trappings, where the ancient alienist huddled in his dressing gown beneath a threadbare blanket, shivering despite the robust fire dancing in the hearth.”
“Carr hauls in the same set of detectives, led by Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, the alienist (old-timey talk for psychologist).”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘alienist’.
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addendumb's Words
fey, cockshut, redact, beatific, melange, arcanum, rarefied, dissemble, capitulation, detritus, ennui, anodyne and 381 more...
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Words to Try to Use in Colloquial Spe...
surquedry, equivocate, putative, turgid, congeries, irrefragable, quiddity, zaftig, flagitious, bloviate, perfidy, compendious and 227 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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heart of darkness
yawl, sea-reach, offing, barge, sprit, estuary, yarn, aft, mizzenmast, placid, gauzy, diaphanous and 141 more...
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litigious semantics
ad unguem, abeyance, choleric, contentious, curmudgeonly, churlish, dictatorial, vindictive, dogmatic, truculent, mutinous, refractory and 254 more...
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geekwad's Words
mysterium, elif, reckon, shadowy, ostensibly, unique, foodie, surreptitiously, asynchronous, insane, berserk, space pirate and 235 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
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1906 Railway Cipher Code
Terms from the Standard Cipher Code of the American Railway Association, 1906. The terms were shorthand for common phrases used in telegraphic communications between station agents and Railway Asso...
abetting, abdominal, abiology, ablative, abnormal, abominate, aboveboard, abrasive, absinth, abstinent, accursed, acetate and 212 more...
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Quenelles of Random Palavery
More randomly-garnered terms from the world of words that don't quite yet fit into my other lists.
Goddidit, barcelona, filigrain, good-natured, ill-natured, half-bit, endosome, underplaying, parotid, denormalization, sleightgeist, wheezing and 2334 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3248 more...
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_mark's list
Words I like!
( personal list, favorite words, randomness )psy, nanobot, success, smack, vibration, microcosmic, springgraph, marksmanship, estranged, homoerotic, flex, fiasco and 1687 more...
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gorgonglare's list
the best
zeppelin, ion, laconic, serendipity, cataract, saturnine, syzygy, cinnabar, bistro, lithium, paroxysm, scion and 694 more...
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People
alienist, Bedouin, cicerone, demimondaine, epigone, varlet, strumpet, milquetoast, badaud, nudnik, schlemiel, maven and 3 more...
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Heart of Darkness
My word list from Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness."
pacifically, trireme, concertina, sententiously, alienist, rapacious, lugubrious, moribund, prevaricator, sepulchral, assegai, declivity and 9 more...
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Heart of Darkness and Other Tales
Words gathered while reading works of Joseph Conrad.
gnomically, inarticulacy, emendation, palaver, aldermanic, calabash, opprobrious, immure, sea-reach, architecturally, mizzen, illusoriness and 60 more...
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perhapsolutely's Words
polyradiculoneuro..., abulia, abubble, abscission, abaft, zareba, abatis, abigail, abiogenesis, ablate, ablaut, abo and 1705 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for alienist.

hernesheir US Railway Assn. Standard Cipher Code, 1906; railroad telegraphers' shorthand for "Your agent has not settled". Jan 19, 2013
ruzuzu Not what I was expecting. Oct 23, 2012
hernesheir psychiater, psychiatrist Mar 17, 2011