2. Belonging to, characteristic of, or constituting another and very different place, society, or person; strange. See Synonyms at foreign. 3. Dissimilar, inconsistent, or opposed, as in nature: emotions alien to her temperament.
n, pl -thens or -then. 1. (Alternative Belief Systems) a person who does not acknowledge the God of Christianity, Judaism, or Islam; pagan. 2. an uncivilized or barbaric person. 3. (Alternative Belief Systems) the heathen (functioning as plural) heathens collectively.
heath. 1  a tract of open and uncultivated land; wasteland overgrown with shrubs. 2  any of various low-growing evergreen shrubs common on such land, as the common heather, Calluna vulgaris. 3  any plant of the genus Erica, or of the family Ericaceae.