strange to say

Idioms  

1. Also, strangely enough. Surprisingly, curiously, unaccountably, as in Strange to say, all the boys in his class are six feet tall or taller, or I've never been to the circus, strangely enough. This idiom was first recorded in 1697 as strange to relate.

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Example Sentences

Given the appalling suffering in the Middle East it may sound strange to say the war in Ukraine is on a completely different level to this.

From BBC • Dec. 28, 2025

All of which, strange to say, makes Mr. Curry’s memoir the more gripping.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

“But I think it’s a little bit strange to say ‘no’ to some kind of new technology when it’s developed in the right manner.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 29, 2024

It is so strange to say … I have something inside me and I recognize immediately.

From New York Times • Jul. 25, 2023

“It sounds strange to say, but I think it was them. It sounds like something out of a story, so I don’t want to believe it. But I do.”

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss