stranger

A person you have never met or do not know.

• A stranger helped me find the station.
• Do not give strangers your home address.
• Why was that stranger waiting outside our door?

Common phrases: complete stranger, talk to a stranger

Someone who comes from elsewhere and does not belong to a place or group.

• He was a stranger in our village.
• The small community welcomed strangers warmly.
• After years abroad, she felt like a stranger in her own country.

How to use it: a stranger to somewhere (She was a stranger to the village and its customs.)

Similar words: outsider, newcomer, foreigner

Opposites: local

Common phrases: stranger in town, stranger to something

A friendly name for someone you know but have not seen for a while.

• Hello, stranger! Come and sit with us.
• Hey, stranger, where have you been?
• Welcome back, stranger! We have missed you.

Common phrases: hello stranger, hey stranger

Someone who has no legal right or involvement in an agreement, action, or property.

• A stranger to the contract cannot enforce it.
• The court rejected the claim of a stranger with no title.
• These strangers had no legal interest in the property.

How to use it: a stranger to something (The buyer was a stranger to the original agreement.)

Similar words: third party, outsider

Common phrases: stranger to proceedings, stranger to something

More unusual or harder to understand than something else.

• That noise is stranger than the last one.
• Her dreams became stranger after the move.
• Have you ever heard a stranger story?

How to use it: stranger than someone/something (His explanation was stranger than the original story.)

Similar words: more unusual, odder

Opposites: more ordinary

Common phrases: even stranger, stranger than something