stranger

1 of 3

noun

strang·​er ˈstrān-jər 

1

: one who is strange: such as

a(1)

: foreigner

(2)

: a resident alien

b

: one in the house of another as a guest, visitor, or intruder

c

: a person or thing that is unknown or with whom one is unacquainted

d

: one who does not belong to or is kept from the activities of a group

e

: one not privy or party to an act, contract, or title : one that interferes without right

2

: one ignorant of or unacquainted with someone or something

stranger

2 of 3

adjective

: of, relating to, or being a stranger : foreign

stranger

3 of 3

verb

strangered; strangering; strangers

transitive verb

obsolete

: estrange, alienate

Synonyms

Noun

• foreigner
• nonnative
• outlander
• outsider

Examples of stranger in a Sentence

Noun

Children are taught not to talk to strangers.

He is a complete stranger to me.

“Excuse me. Do you know where the library is?” “I'm sorry. I'm a stranger here myself.”

I'm a stranger to the area.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

But the words are significant because the viewer learns these strangers who met at a mutual friend's party and went on a spontaneous dinner date are suddenly very, very important to one another. —Nicole Fallert, USA TODAY, 10 Apr. 2024

Later that night, when Zaire was walking home, a stranger approached him. —Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, 10 Apr. 2024

The gardeners’ presence on Big Basin Way has also resulted in strangers stopping to thank them for their work or chat about the plants currently growing. —Isha Trivedi, The Mercury News, 7 Apr. 2024

Somehow, strangers seem to know about your personal life. —Georgia Nicols, The Denver Post, 5 Apr. 2024

But her close pal Eden (Glazer) is in a very different stage of her life — one that involves late-night drinking and hooking up with handsome strangers. —Shania Russell, EW.com, 4 Apr. 2024

Rum punch flowed from street vendors, smoke billowed in thick clouds, and strangers became temporary comrades as the DJ commanded the massive crowd into call and response. —Rivea Ruff, Essence, 3 Apr. 2024

When the groping allegations surfaced, strangers appeared in their driveway and harassed their children online, Teresa Hill said. —Kayla Dwyer, The Indianapolis Star, 3 Apr. 2024

Tejano music filled the room where, propped against the front of her table, stood a conspicuous object: A 4-foot sheet metal cross, gifted by a stranger in the days after Lopez-Galvan, at 43, was killed at Union Station in a spray of bullets at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally on Valentine’s Day. —Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 29 Mar. 2024

Adjective

Among the stranger items sold at the store through the years, according to Myers: Benches from dugouts. —Erin Couch, The Enquirer, 28 Jan. 2024

This year, the most exciting books avoid these ho-hum recent trends in favor of stranger pleasures, daring memoir, and the ruthless re-zhuzhing of classic American lit. —Vulture, 2 Jan. 2024

The more experts learned, the stranger pterosaurs became. —Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Sep. 2023

In that one split second, some stranger looks at you, locks onto you and really sees you. —James Brown, USA TODAY, 16 Apr. 2023

Participants overwhelmingly preferred their own bears over the standard and stranger bears. —Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 25 Mar. 2023

That’s a tall task, but this is March, and stranger things have happened. —Lindsay Schnell, USA TODAY, 3 Mar. 2023

There are some stranger allegations too — including that Lee Soo-Man forced the K-Pop group Aespa to incorporate pro-environmental messages into their music, leading to long delays in a new project from the group. —Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2023

Recently, things have also gotten considerably stranger. —Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, 9 Jan. 2023

Verb

She will be passed from stranger to stranger for the next two years—foster homes, shelters, juvenile detention. —Alex Mar, Rolling Stone, 25 Mar. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English straunger, straungier "foreigner, alien, unfamiliar person, outsider," borrowed from Anglo-French estranger, estraunger "outsider, foreigner, unfamiliar person" (as adjective) "not related by blood, foreign" (also continental Middle French estrangier), from estrange "foreign, strange entry 1" + -er, -ier -er entry 2

Adjective

from attributive use of stranger entry 1

Verb

derivative of stranger entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1606, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing stranger

• no stranger to

Kids Definition

stranger

noun

strang·​er

ˈstrān-jər

1

: one who is strange

2

a

: foreigner

b

: guest sense 1, visitor

c

: a person with whom or a thing with which one is unacquainted

Legal Definition

stranger

noun

strang·​er

: someone who is not a party or in privity with a party (as to a contract or legal action)

may be enforced against a stranger to the contract