stranger
Americannoun
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a person with whom one has had no personal acquaintance.
He is a perfect stranger to me.
- Antonyms:
- acquaintance
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a newcomer in a place or locality.
a stranger in town.
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an outsider.
They want no strangers in on the club meetings.
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a person who is unacquainted with or unaccustomed to something (usually followed byto ).
He is no stranger to poverty.
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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.
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Law. one not privy or party to an act, proceeding, etc.
noun
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any person whom one does not know
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a person who is new to a particular locality, from another region, town, etc
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a guest or visitor
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(foll by to) a person who is unfamiliar (with) or new (to) something
he is no stranger to computers
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law a person who is neither party nor privy to a transaction
Related Words
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
- strangerlike adjective
Etymology
Origin of stranger
1325–75; Middle English, from Middle French estrangier, equivalent to estrange strange + -ier -ier 2
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.
Table by table, the circle of belief widened from friends to acquaintances, from acquaintances to strangers, until it included many prominent Rochester businessmen, doctors, ministers, wives, and children … soon reaching the famous Frederick Douglass.
From Literature
Mr. Herzog is interested in everything, and makes everything interesting, exulting in all of the world’s settings, the stranger the better.
Lin leaves stacks of “conversation cards” featuring icebreaker questions on the tables at Coffee Confessionals, to help prompt connection between strangers or for those on first dates.
From Los Angeles Times
Myles is no stranger to appearing in suspenseful dramas, and is best known for her roles in Broadchurch and Keeping Faith.
From BBC
The menagerie at the Department of Health and Human Services keeps getting stranger.
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.
