stranger

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   Someone you have never met or do not know.

   Grammar: Countable: a stranger, two strangers. Often used with an or total/complete: a complete stranger.

   Patterns

   • talk to a stranger
   • a complete stranger
   • a stranger to someone

   Children are taught not to accept lifts from strangers.

   A complete stranger returned my lost wallet.

   We were strangers when we sat down, but friends by the end of the flight.

2. 2nouncountable

   A person who is new to a place, group or situation and does not yet know how things work there.

   Grammar: Often followed by in or to: a stranger in town; a stranger to city life.

   Patterns

   • a stranger in somewhere
   • a stranger to something

   As a stranger in the village, she was watched with polite curiosity.

   He was a stranger to the customs of the region.

   Visitors to the island rarely feel like strangers for long.

3. 3phraseidiom

   Used in the pattern no stranger to something to say that someone knows or has experienced it well.

   Grammar: Fixed pattern: be no stranger to something, with a noun or an -ing form after to.

   Patterns

   • be no stranger to something

   The coach is no stranger to defeat.

   My grandmother is no stranger to hard work.

   She is no stranger to speaking in front of large crowds.

Word forms

Common combinations

a complete stranger

I felt shy telling my secrets to a complete stranger.

a perfect stranger

A perfect stranger offered to carry my bags up the stairs.

talk to strangers

The poster warned students not to talk to strangers online.

a stranger in town

I was a stranger in town and had no idea where to eat.

no stranger to

The senator is no stranger to controversy.

treat someone like a stranger

After the argument, he treated his own brother like a stranger.

Synonyms and how they differ

outsider

Outsider stresses not belonging to a group, even when people know who you are, while a stranger is simply unknown.

newcomer

Newcomer focuses on having recently arrived and carries no hint of unfamiliarity between people.

foreigner

Foreigner is about coming from another country, which a stranger need not do.

unknown

Unknown as a noun is rarer and often describes a person whose identity is not established, as in news reports.

Opposites

Word family

strange adjective

unusual, or not familiar

strangely adverb

in an odd or unusual way

strangeness noun

the quality of being odd or unfamiliar

estrange verb

to cause someone to become distant from family or friends

Commonly confused: stranger or stranger danger?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “stranger”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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