stalker
Americannoun
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a person who pursues game, prey, or a person stealthily.
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a person who harasses another person, as a former lover, a famous person, etc., in an aggressive, often threatening and illegal manner.
Hollywood stars often have security guards to keep dangerous stalkers at bay.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of stalker
Explanation
You might joke about your neighborhood stalker who always seems to know where you've been and what time you get home from work every day, but it can actually be a little creepy to know that someone's watching you. A stalker can describe anyone who sneaks around, but it usually means a person who follows one specific individual obsessively. The word wasn't used this way until the early 1990s. Before that, it was mostly used interchangeably with "poacher" to mean "someone who pursues and steals game animals." The Old English word stelan lead to the English word steal, which is most likely the root of stalk.
Vocabulary lists containing stalker
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The alleged stalker held firm, saying he knew the singer and that she was expecting his visit, and refused to leave until police arrived.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
The owner of another horse, Detail, wrote in a Facebook post that the alleged attacker was a “crazy obsessed stalker who has been following me on social media for a long time.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
Scottish lawyer Fiona Harvey outed herself as the inspiration for the show's obsessive stalker, suing Netflix for defamation and negligence for billing it as "a true story".
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026
The actor stars in a solo off-Broadway show by David Cale about a playwright stumped by the blank page who finds a surprising, unsettling source of inspiration in the form of a stalker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
Once, we turned a corner to find another night stalker.
From "Prisoner B-3087" by Alan Gratz
A newly launched government app will now allow victims in South Korea to electronically track the location of their stalkers in real time.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
The number of reports against stalkers have surged since then, from 7,600 in 2022 to more than 13,000 last year, according to data from the justice ministry.
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2025
They divorced and Thomas, who had largely quit acting over fears of stalkers, married Brittenham, with whom she raised a daughter and two stepdaughters while writing scripts and the novel “Trophies.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2024
She consulted with Gavin de Becker, who studied stalkers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2024
As Elizabeth walked along the line of guardsmen, they did nothing to protect her from her stalkers.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
