【Transfer】 ,  【convey】 ,  【alienate】 ,  【deed】  are comparable chiefly as legal terms meaning to make over property from one owner to another.

【Transfer】  is the general term; it is applicable when the property is real or personal and when it is passed from one owner to another by a lawful means (as sale, gift, or foreclosure).

【Convey】  stresses the legalistic aspects of the 【transfer】 ; it is the precise term when a sealed writing or 【deed】 plays an essential part in the 【transfer】 and is used chiefly of the 【transfer】 of real property and of ships.

【Alienate】  is not always clearly distinguished from  【transfer】  or  【convey】 ; in precise legal use, however, it implies the passing of a title by the act of the owner as distinguished from its passing by the operation of the law (as in the case of inheritance by descent).

【Alienate】  , however, may be used when the sale of property is not voluntary but is ordered or enforced by a court (as in foreclosure or in condemnation proceedings).

In ordinary nonlegal use  【alienate】 often implies diversion (as by force or by a sovereign power or an imperative need).

【Deed】  , a popular rather than a technical legal term, is equivalent to  【convey】  .