stalker

American  

[staw-ker] / ˈstɔ kər /

noun

• stalkers
  plural

1. a person who pursues game, prey, or a person stealthily.

2. 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.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• stalkers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of stalker

stalk ² (verb) + -er ¹

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stalker stalkers

Det Ch Insp Teresa Foster from the Met Police said she believed Lamplugh may have been targeted by a stalker.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Max even has his own stalker played by Juliette Lewis, who also starred in the 1991 movie.

From Salon ● Jul. 17, 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

Kennard appealed the judgment, claiming that the case harmed her reputation and cost her income—on the stand, she said she had been called a stalker, a liar and a Jezebel.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026

I’m not usually a stalker, and I’m not following her, exactly.

From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon

She handles intake for new clients, including those who are targeted by stalkers.

From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026

Additional rights for those who have been stalked include knowing the identity of online stalkers as soon as possible, the Home Office said.

From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2024

Stalking Protection Orders - which can ban alleged stalkers from contacting or being within a certain distance of their victims - will also be made more widely available, the government said.

From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2024

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

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