Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Stranger
1.
One who is strange, foreign, or unknown.
Specifically: –(a)
One who comes from a foreign land; a foreigner.
I am a most poor woman and a
Born out of your dominions.
stranger
,Born out of your dominions.
Shakespeare
(b)
One whose home is at a distance from the place where he is, but in the same country.
(c)
One who is unknown or unacquainted;
as, the gentleman is a
; hence, one not admitted to communication, fellowship, or acquaintance. stranger
to meMelons on beds of ice are taught to bear,
And
And
strangers
to the sun yet ripen here. Granville.
My child is yet a
stranger
in the world. Shakespeare
I was no
stranger
to the original. Dryden.
2.
One not belonging to the family or household; a guest; a visitor.
To honor and receive
Our heavenly
Our heavenly
stranger
. Milton.
3.
(Law)
One not privy or party an act, contract, or title; a mere intruder or intermeddler; one who interferes without right;
as, actual possession of land gives a good title against a
. stranger
having no title; as to strangers
, a mortgage is considered merely as a pledge; a mere stranger
to the levyStran′ger
,Verb.
T.
To estrange; to alienate.
[Obs.]
Shak.
Webster 1828 Edition
Stranger
STRANGER
,Noun.
1.
A foreigner; one who belongs to another country. Paris and London are visited by strangers from all the countries of Europe.2.
One of another town, city, state or province in the same country. The Commencements in American colleges are frequented by multitudes of strangers from the neighboring towns and states.3.
One unknown. The gentleman is a stranger to me.4.
One unacquainted.My child is yet a stranger to the world.
I was no stranger to the original.
5.
A guest; a visitor.6.
One not admitted to any communication or fellowship.Melons on beds of ice are taught to bear, and strangers to the sun yet ripen here.
7.
In law, one not privy or party to an act.STRANGER
, v.t To estrange; to alienate. [Not in use.]Definition 2024
stranger
stranger
English
Adjective
stranger
Derived terms
- See strange
Related terms
- See strange
Noun
stranger (plural strangers)
- A person whom one does not know; a person who is neither a friend nor an acquaintance.
- That gentleman is a stranger to me. Children are taught not to talk to strangers.
- 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate, chapter III:
- In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass. […] Strangers might enter the room, but they were made to feel that they were there on sufferance: they were received with distance and suspicion.
- An outsider or foreigner.
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- I am a most poor woman and a stranger, / Born out of your dominions.
- George Granville (1666-1735)
- Melons on beds of ice are taught to bear, / And strangers to the sun yet ripen here.
- 1961, Robert A. Heinlein: “Stranger in a Strange Land”
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- A newcomer.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- […] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.
-
- (humorous) One who has not been seen for a long time.
- Hello, stranger!
- (obsolete) One not belonging to the family or household; a guest; a visitor.
- John Milton (1608-1674)
- To honour and receive / Our heavenly stranger.
- John Milton (1608-1674)
- (law) One not privy or party to an act, contract, or title; a mere intruder or intermeddler; one who interferes without right.
- Actual possession of land gives a good title against a stranger having no title.
Synonyms
- (person whom one does not know):
- (outsider, foreigner): alien, foreigner, foreign national, non-national/nonnational, non-resident/nonresident, outsider
- (newcomer): newbie, newcomer
Antonyms
- (person whom one does not know): acquaintance, friend
- (outsider, foreigner): compatriot, countryman, fellow citizen, fellow countryman, national, resident
- (newcomer):
Derived terms
- be no stranger to
- don't be a stranger
- stranger danger
Translations
person whom one does not know
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foreigner
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newcomer
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See also
Verb
stranger (third-person singular simple present strangers, present participle strangering, simple past and past participle strangered)
- (obsolete, transitive) To estrange; to alienate.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)