stranger definition - Dictionary

Dictionary

strang·er [ stráynjər ] (plural strang·ers)

noun

Definition:

1. unfamiliar person: somebody whom somebody else does not know

2. newcomer: somebody who is new to a place

3. outsider: somebody who does not belong to a specific organization or group

4. visitor or guest: somebody who does not live in a specific house or community but is a visitor or guest

5. person unaccustomed to something: somebody who is not familiar or acquainted with a particular thing

Being a stranger to hard physical work, he found the job exhausting.

6. alienated person: somebody who has become distanced or alienated from somebody or something

She is a stranger to her former colleagues.

7. person not privy to transaction: somebody who is neither privy nor party to a transaction

[14th century. < Old French estrangier< estrange "foreign" (see strange)]

Cultural Note


	The Stranger, a novel by French writer Albert Camus (1942). This classic existentialist work is also known as The Outsider. Set in Algiers, it recounts how a young man's extreme sense of alienation leads him to commit murder. During his trial, however, the absurdities of the judicial process compel him to acknowledge the value of human life.