alias
/ˈeɪ.li.əs/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈeɪ.li.əs/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈā-lē-əs ˈāl-yəs/ (ame, mw) · /ˈeɪliəs/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈeɪliəs/ (ame, ipa)
alias — preposition
1. placed between someone's real name and the other name they are widely known by,
placed between someone's real name and the other name they are widely known by, especially in news reports, biographies, or police records.
The court named the suspect as Mark Reynolds, alias 'the Fox'.
[real name] alias [nickname] in formal/legal context
Samuel Clemens, alias Mark Twain, wrote his most famous novels in Hartford.
linking real name to pen name
The wanted poster listed Diego Morales, alias 'Slim Diego', as armed and dangerous.
Police arrested Xander Park, alias Susan Choi, at the airport on Tuesday.
- aka
informal abbreviation, common in casual writing
- otherwise known as
neutral phrase used in the same slot
文法句型
[real name] alias [other name]
用法筆記
Sits between two noun phrases, never at the start of a clause. Distinguish from the noun sense by position: here it joins two names; the noun sense takes a determiner ('an alias', 'his alias').
常見錯誤
alias — noun
1. a different name that someone uses instead of their own — typically a criminal h
a different name that someone uses instead of their own — typically a criminal hiding from police, a writer publishing under a pen name, or a person staying anonymous online.
The con artist booked every hotel room under a different alias.
under + alias for hidden identity
Detective Mori discovered that the suspect had used four aliases since 2018.
countable: aliases plural
The novelist Jiang Wen writes her crime stories under the alias 'J. W. Black'.
Many gamers prefer to use an alias instead of their real name on chat servers.
The undercover agent in Berlin went by the alias Karl Bauer for two years.
- real name
the legal name on official documents
文法句型
use an alias
under the alias [name]
go by the alias [name]
用法筆記
Countable, normally takes a determiner ('an alias', 'her alias', 'this alias'). Carries a hint of secrecy or concealment, unlike neutral 'pen name' or 'username'.
常見錯誤
2. in computing, a short label that points to a longer thing — for example a deskto
in computing, a short label that points to a longer thing — for example a desktop link to a file, a typed shortcut for a command, or a forwarding address that delivers mail to a real inbox.
Aiko created an alias on her Mac desktop so she could open the report folder with one click.
alias for a file or folder shortcut
The office computer shows the shared drive under a friendly alias called 'Team Files' instead of its long server address.
alias as a friendly label for a longer address
Our team uses the email alias [email protected], which forwards to three real inboxes.
If you delete the original file, the alias on your desktop becomes useless.
文法句型
create an alias
set up an alias for [target]
用法筆記
Tech sense — distinguish from sense 1 by context: this alias points to data or a command, not to a person. Common verbs are 'create', 'set up', 'define', and 'remove'.
常見錯誤
alias — adverb
1. in legal records, archives, and older biographies, written WITHOUT commas direct
in legal records, archives, and older biographies, written WITHOUT commas directly after a person's first name to mark a second name they were also recorded under — distinct from the modern preposition use, which sets the second name off with commas.
The defendant was listed in the records as Edward Hyde alias Henry Jekyll.
[name] alias [other name] in records
An old document named the merchant Thomas Wright alias Tom the Tailor of Bristol.
Court rolls from 1670 mention Anne Carter alias Anne Bell, born in Surrey.
The biography lists the spy as Colonel Reeves alias the Cobra throughout the war years.
- aka
modern informal equivalent; far more frequent today
文法句型
[name] alias [other name]
用法筆記
Largely confined to legal records, biographies, and historical writing. In modern speech and journalism, the preposition slot (with comma) or the abbreviation 'aka' is far more common.