Stranger Meaning
/ˈstɹeɪnd͡ʒə(ɹ)/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjcomparative form of strange: more strange
nounA person whom one does not know; a person who is neither a friend nor an acquaintance.
Sentence Examples
Poverty is a stranger to industry.
When Mary was spoken to by a stranger, she was at a loss for words.
There was a complete stranger sitting at my desk.
CEFR Practice Quiz
A ____ knocked on the door late at night.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A polite ____ helped her carry her heavy grocery bags across the busy street yesterday afternoon.
Word Origin & History
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
"Our love (our love, our love) / Our love is in danger (danger) / And if you don't hurry home / I might give it to a stranger"
— 1980, Chaka Khan, “Our Love's In Danger”, in Naughty (Chaka Khan album):
"I am a most poor woman and a stranger, / Born out of your dominions."
— 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:
"Melons on beds of ice are taught to bear, / And strangers to the sun yet ripen here."
— 1726, George Granville, Written in a Garden in the North:
"I like to be a stranger myself—it was my destiny; but I wish to be the only stranger."
— 1952 May, George Santayana, “I Like to Be a Stranger”, in The Atlantic:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
A ____ knocked on the door late at night.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A polite ____ helped her carry her heavy grocery bags across the busy street yesterday afternoon.