STRANGER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does stranger mean? 

• STRANGER (noun)
  The noun STRANGER has 2 senses:

1. anyone who does not belong in the environment in which they are found

2. an individual that one is not acquainted with

  Familiarity information: STRANGER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STRANGER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Anyone who does not belong in the environment in which they are found

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

alien; stranger; unknown

Hypernyms ("stranger" is a kind of...):

interloper; intruder; trespasser (someone who intrudes on the privacy or property of another without permission)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "stranger"):

foreigner; outsider (someone who is excluded from or is not a member of a group)

Antonym:

acquaintance (a person with whom you are acquainted)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An individual that one is not acquainted with

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("stranger" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Antonym:

acquaintance (a person with whom you are acquainted)

 Context examples 

This aroused the stranger’s attention, and he asked a multitude of questions concerning the route which the dæmon, as he called him, had pursued.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I would have taken my leave for the night, but he would not hear of my doing that until the strangers' bell should ring.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

These last were discussing the stranger; they both called him "a beautiful man."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) Fears; of dark, of strangers, of being left alone, of animals, of traffic, of crowds.

(HAMA - Fears, NCI Thesaurus)

Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) Does the patient talk to total strangers as if he/she knew them?

(NPI - Talk to Total Strangers as if He/She Knew Them, NCI Thesaurus)

Make a discreet inquiry also as to any strangers in the neighbourhood.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She had before conjectured him to be a stranger like themselves, and determined that a well-looking groom, who was strolling about near the two inns as they came back, should be his servant.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I was very uneasy and alarmed, as you may fancy, and it rather added to my fears to observe that the stranger was certainly frightened himself.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Now look you here; you come here a stranger, an' you see this kirk-garth.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The girl fled away to the house, but as she ran she looked back and saw that the stranger was leaning through the window.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)