Estrangement means a state of being alienated, distant, or emotionally disconnected from someone or something that was once close or familiar.It can describe:The breakdown of a previously warm or intimate relationship (family members, friends, or romantic partners who have grown cold or hostile toward each other). A broader sense of separation or unfamiliarity—feeling like a stranger to people, groups, or even aspects of ordinary life that used to feel natural. In the context of our conversation, “the age of estrangement” points to the growing mutual distance between men and women: each side increasingly experiencing the other as harder to understand, less reliable, or lower-yield, so that ordinary pair-bonding and cooperation start to feel partially alien.