stranger

American  

[streyn-jer] / ˈstreɪn dʒər /

noun

strangers plural

1. a person with whom one has had no personal acquaintance.

   He is a perfect stranger to me.

   Antonyms:

   acquaintance

2. a newcomer in a place or locality.

   a stranger in town.

3. an outsider.

   They want no strangers in on the club meetings.

4. a person who is unacquainted with or unaccustomed to something (usually followed byto ).

   He is no stranger to poverty.

5. a person who is not a member of the family, group, community, or the like, as a visitor or guest.

   Our town shows hospitality to strangers.

6. Law. one not privy or party to an act, proceeding, etc.

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stranger British  

/ ˈstreɪndʒə /

noun

1. any person whom one does not know

2. a person who is new to a particular locality, from another region, town, etc

3. a guest or visitor

4. (foll by to) a person who is unfamiliar (with) or new (to) something

   he is no stranger to computers

5. law a person who is neither party nor privy to a transaction

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Synonym Usage

Stranger, foreigner both refer to someone regarded as outside of or distinct from a particular group. Stranger may apply to one who does not belong to some group—social, professional, national, etc.—or may apply to a person with whom one is not acquainted. Foreigner emphasizes a difference in language, customs, and background.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• strangerlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• strangers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of stranger

1325–75; Middle English, from Middle French estrangier, equivalent to estrange strange + -ier -ier ²

Explanation

A stranger is someone you don't know or who doesn't belong in a specific place. Parents tell their kids, "Don't talk to strangers." That's because strangers are people they don't know, who could be dangerous. Just like strange things are odd or weird, a stranger is unknown and therefore potentially scary. Also, anyone out of place can be considered a stranger. A fireman in a police station is a stranger, and a mascot in a scientific lab is a stranger. Either type of stranger is likely to make someone say, "Who's that?"

Example Sentences

Stranger still, he knew the friends who had taken me in after everything fell apart — people who had become part of the story I told in the podcast.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026

However it was Stranger Things, which began in 2016 when Matarazzo was 13 years old, that catapulted him into the sci-fi fandom relm.

From BBC • May 19, 2026

The cycle begins again, but this time the Stranger explains how he came to find the castle and mysteriously breach its defenses.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

West, one of the grande dames of the movement, got her start at Seattle alt-weekly the Stranger and spent years excoriating fatphobia, online misogyny, and male entitlement for the ur-millennial-feminist site Jezebel.

From Slate • Mar. 31, 2026

Alex felt panic well up inside him as his brain jumped right to the worst-case scenario: Stranger Danger.

From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers

Related Words

• alien
• foreigner
• guest
• immigrant
• intruder
• newcomer
• outsider
• visitor