stranger

English Online Dictionary. What means stranger‎? What does stranger mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈstɹeɪnd͡ʒɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈstɹeɪnd͡ʒə/
• Rhymes: -eɪnd͡ʒə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

Adjective

stranger

1. comparative form of strange: more strange

Etymology 2

From Middle English straunger, from Old French estrangier (“foreign, alien”), from estrange, from Latin extraneus (“foreign, external”) (whence also English estrange), from extra (“outside of”). Cognate with French étranger (“foreigner, stranger”) and Spanish extranjero (“foreigner”). Displaced native Old English fremde (literally “strange or unfamiliar person”).

Noun

stranger (plural strangers)

1. A person whom one does not know; a person who is neither a friend nor an acquaintance.
2. An outsider or foreigner.
3. One not admitted to communion or fellowship.
4. A newcomer.
5. (humorous) Used ironically to refer to a person who the speaker knows.

6. (obsolete) One not belonging to the family or household; a guest; a visitor.
7. (law) One not privy or party to an act, contract, or title; a mere intruder or intermeddler; one who interferes without right.
8. (obsolete) A superstitious premonition of the coming of a visitor by a bit of stalk in a cup of tea, the guttering of a candle, etc.

Synonyms

• (person whom one does not know):
• (newcomer): newbie, newcomer; see also Thesaurus:newcomer or Thesaurus:beginner

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “person whom one does not know”): acquaintance, friend
• (antonym(s) of “outsider, foreigner”): compatriot, countryman, fellow citizen, fellow countryman, national, resident
• (antonym(s) of “newcomer”):

Hyponyms

• (outsider, foreigner): alien, foreigner, foreign national, non-national/nonnational, non-resident/nonresident, outsider; see also Thesaurus:foreigner or Thesaurus:outcast

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• myall

Verb

stranger (third-person singular simple present strangers, present participle strangering, simple past and past participle strangered)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To estrange; to alienate.

Anagrams

• granters, regrants

Middle English

Noun

stranger

1. Alternative form of straunger

Scots

Adjective

stranger

1. comparative degree of strang
2. comparative degree of strange