interloper
noun
in·ter·lop·er
ˌin-tər-ˈlō-pər 
ˈin-tər-ˌlō-
: one that interlopes: such as
a
: one that intrudes in a place or sphere of activity
b
: an illegal or unlicensed trader
Did you know?
The History of Interloper
The -loper part of interloper is believed to be either from an English dialectal word meaning "leap" or from a Dutch word meaning "to run." (The prefix inter- means "between" or "among.") An interloper is essentially one that jumps into the midst of things without an invitation to do so.
Examples of interloper in a Sentence
I had hoped to help my neighbors, but they regarded me as an interloper.
summer residents were regarded as interlopers who had no deep commitment to the town's welfare
Recent Examples on the Web
The interloper — whether male or female — is allowed to stay.
—
Ari Daniel, NPR, 18 Mar. 2026
An analysis of the recordings showed that the parents behaved aggressively toward the divers more often when the human interlopers were staring at the offspring or the parent, compared with when the diver was looking in another direction or completely turned away.
—Gennaro Tomma, Scientific American, 17 Mar. 2026
One 2009 estimate showed that removing the hundreds of thousands of these interlopers in the lower Colorado basin could bring 1 million acre-feet of water back to the watershed.
—Shi En Kim, AZCentral.com, 13 Mar. 2026
The interloper into our cosmic neighborhood came from the general direction of the constellation Sagittarius, where the central region of our Milky Way galaxy is located.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 4 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for interloper
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Ari Daniel, NPR, 18 Mar. 2026
An analysis of the recordings showed that the parents behaved aggressively toward the divers more often when the human interlopers were staring at the offspring or the parent, compared with when the diver was looking in another direction or completely turned away.
—Gennaro Tomma, Scientific American, 17 Mar. 2026
One 2009 estimate showed that removing the hundreds of thousands of these interlopers in the lower Colorado basin could bring 1 million acre-feet of water back to the watershed.
—Shi En Kim, AZCentral.com, 13 Mar. 2026
The interloper into our cosmic neighborhood came from the general direction of the constellation Sagittarius, where the central region of our Milky Way galaxy is located.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 4 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for interloper
Cite this Entry
“Interloper.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interloper. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
interloper
noun
in·ter·lop·er
ˌint-ər-ˈlō-pər
ˈint-ər-ˌlō-pər
: a person who intrudes or interferes wrongly or meddlesomely
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
