Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not previously known; unfamiliar.
  • adjective Not of one's own or a particular locality, environment, or kind; not native.
  • adjective Out of the ordinary or difficult to account for; unusual or peculiar.
  • adjective Reserved in manner; distant or cool.
  • adjective Not comfortable or at ease.
  • adjective Not accustomed or conditioned.
  • adjective Physics Of, relating to, or exhibiting strangeness.
  • adverb In a strange manner.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To alienate; estrange.
  • To wonder; be astonished.
  • To be estranged or alienated.
  • Strangely. She will speak most bitterly and strange.
  • Foreign; alien; of or belonging to some other country.
  • Of or pertaining to another or others; alien; belonging to others, or to some other place or neighborhood; not lawfully belonging to one; intrusive.
  • Not before known, heard, or seen; unfamiliar; unknown; new: as, the custom was strange to them.
  • Outlandish; queer; odd.
  • Unusual; singular; wonderful; surprising; remarkable; of a kind to excite curiosity; not easily explained or explainable: as, a strange story, if true a strange hallucination.
  • Like a stranger; reserved; distant; estranged; not familiar.
  • Unaequainted; inexperienced; unversed.
  • Unfavorable; averse to one's suit.
  • Synonyms Singular, Odd, etc. See eccentric.
  • Surprising, Curious, etc. See wonderful.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb obsolete Strangely.
  • transitive verb obsolete To alienate; to estrange.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To be estranged or alienated.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To wonder; to be astonished.
  • adjective Belonging to another country; foreign.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to others; not one's own; not pertaining to one's self; not domestic.
  • adjective Not before known, heard, or seen; new.
  • adjective Not according to the common way; novel; odd; unusual; irregular; extraordinary; unnatural; queer.
  • adjective Reserved; distant in deportment.
  • adjective obsolete Backward; slow.
  • adjective Not familiar; unaccustomed; inexperienced.
  • adjective (Naut.) an unknown vessel.
  • adjective (Script.) a harlot.
  • adjective [Obs.] To make it a matter of difficulty.
  • adjective To assume the character of a stranger.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary.
  • adjective Unfamiliar, not yet part of one's experience.
  • adjective physics Having the quantum mechanical property of strangeness.
  • verb obsolete To be estranged or alienated.
  • verb obsolete To wonder; to be astonished.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not known before
  • adjective relating to or originating in or characteristic of another place or part of the world
  • adjective being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French estrange, extraordinary, foreign, from Latin extrāneus, adventitious, foreign, from extrā, outside, from feminine ablative of exter, outward; see eghs in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English strange, from Old French estrange, from Latin extraneus, "that which is on the outside". Displaced native Middle English fremd, frempt ("strange") (from Old English fremede, fremde).

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Examples

  • ‘A strange visitor, my noble Lord, —strange indeed!

    Chapter XXIII 1909

  • "How strange -- _how strange_!" she repeated, as she looked down on the little blanched and stiffening face.

    Helbeck of Bannisdale — Volume II Humphry Ward 1885

  • When Belinda questioned Marriott more particularly about the strange hints which her lady had let fall, she with looks of embarrassment and horror declined repeating the words that had been said to her; yet persisted in asserting that Lady Delacour had been very _strange_ for these two or three days.

    Tales and Novels — Volume 03 Maria Edgeworth 1808

  • How shall I tell you the strange -- _strange_ incident?

    Jane Talbot Charles Brockden Brown 1790

  • _This strange and self_ abuse, means, _this strange_ deception _of himself_.

    Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Samuel Johnson 1746

  • Lover said affected her; _it was strange, 'twas wondrous strange_.

    The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays Joseph Addison 1695

  • People are strange, when you’re a stranger …….then again, ’strange’ is relative.

    MULHOLLAND DR. « FranksFilms 2007

  • A strange banquet, but the word strange had such little meaning now.

    Soulless Christopher Golden 2008

  • A strange banquet, but the word strange had such little meaning now.

    Soulless Christopher Golden 2008

  • A strange banquet, but the word strange had such little meaning now.

    Soulless Christopher Golden 2008

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