stalker

noun

stalk·​er ˈstȯ-kər 

plural stalkers

1

: a person who stalks : a person who pursues someone obsessively and aggressively to the point of harassment

celebrity stalkers

In 1990, California was the first state to pass a stalking law that made it a crime to follow, threaten, or harass someone—especially if the stalker threatened violence.

—George

Eighty-seven percent of stalkers are men. Women tend to be victimized by lone male stalkers whom they know, while men are more likely to be stalked by strangers, and half of male victims' stalkers had an accomplice.

—Matthew Klein

2

: a person or animal that pursues quarry or prey stealthily

a deer stalker

Though I catch my share of trout, I do it by being a good stalker and knowing where the fish lie …

—Bill Barich

Polar bears are superb stalkers, and have a way of suddenly appearing heart-stoppingly close.

—John P. Wiley, Jr.

Examples of stalker in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The stalker is duly identified as Lao Wu (Lee Kang-sheng), an undermanager in the local supermarket. —Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 5 Sep. 2024

Noah from The Notebook was a stalker who threatened to hurt himself if Allie didn’t go out with him. —Sophie Hanson, StyleCaster, 4 Sep. 2024

In the show, his stalker, Martha (Jessica Gunning), sends Donny over 41,000 emails, 744 tweets, 100 pages of letters and 350 hours of voicemails. —Lily Ford, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Aug. 2024

Netflix has acknowledged that Fiona Harvey, whom the streamer's Baby Reindeer was based upon, has never been convicted as a stalker in an ongoing lawsuit. —Esther Kang, Peoplemag, 1 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2