strange

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See also: Strange, strânge, Stränge, and stränge

English

Etymology

From Middle English straunge, strange, stronge, from Old French estrange, from Latin extrāneus (“that which is on the outside”). Doublet of extraneous and estrange. Cognate with French étrange (“strange, foreign”) and Spanish extraño (“strange, foreign”). Displaced native Old English seldcūþ.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: strānj; IPA(key): /stɹeɪnd͡ʒ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪndʒ

Adjective

strange (comparative stranger, superlative strangest)

  1. Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:strange
    Antonyms: everyday, normal, (especially US) regular, standard, usual
    He thought it strange that his girlfriend wore shorts in the winter.
    • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
      I do love nothing in the world so well as you: is not that strange?
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, lines 598-601:
      Sated at length, ere long I might perceave / Strange alteration in me, to degree / Of Reason in my inward Powers, and Speech / Wanted not long, though to this shape retain’d.
    • 1967, Robby Krieger, Jim Morrison (lyrics and music), “People Are Strange”, performed by The Doors:
      When you're strange / Faces come out of the rain / When you're strange / No one remembers your name
  2. Unfamiliar, not yet part of one's experience.
    Synonyms: new, unfamiliar, unknown
    Antonyms: familiar, known
    I moved to a strange town when I was ten.
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
      […] here is the hand and seal of the duke: you know the character, I doubt not; and the signet is not strange to you.
    • 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 105:
      'I'm sure I should have never mentioned anything of the kind to three strange gentlemen if you hadn't dragged it out of me.'
    • 1955, Rex Stout, "The Next Witness", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, →ISBN, pages 48–49:
      She's probably sitting there hoping a couple of strange detectives will drop in.
  3. (slang, of sex, genitals, etc) Outside of one's current relationship; unfamiliar.
    • 2006, Black Butch Malone, Streetwise N.Y. Yo, AuthorHouse (→ISBN), page 47:
      When AIDS and Herpes hit the street Talib stopped fucking with strange pussy and stray pussy. Bitches had a ways to go to match Malikah in bed anyway. With her there was that extra element of real love that heightened sex […]
    • 2009, David Karcher, Winter Kill, Xlibris Corporation (→ISBN), page 239:
      Arnett might have come to Boston to eat baked beans, get some strange ass, or stick up the First New England Trust, the motive mattered little to him—whatever the boss wanted to do was jake-okay by him. Besides, being on overtime for ...
    • 2014, Mary Monroe, Lost Daughters, Kensington Books (→ISBN):
      "You just need some strange dick, that's all.” Maureen rolled her eyes and gave her friend an exasperated look. “I'm a married woman, Catty.” “Uh-huh! I knew somethin' like this was goin' to happen after you married Mel."
    • 2021, Ellis O. Day, The Billionaire's Baby, LSODea (→ISBN):
      The future mother of his child was not going out and getting laid by some strange dick. He'd tie her to his bed before he let that happen.
  4. (particle physics) Having the quantum mechanical property of strangeness.
    Hypernym: flavor
    • 2004 Frank Close, Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 93:
      A strange quark is electrically charged, carrying an amount -1/3, as does the down quark.
  5. (mathematics) Of an attractor: having a fractal structure.
  6. (obsolete) Belonging to another country; foreign.

# (obsolete) Reserved; distant in deportment.

  2. (obsolete) Backward; slow.
  3. (obsolete) Not familiar; unaccustomed; inexperienced.
  4. (law) Not belonging to one.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

strange (third-person singular simple present stranges, present participle stranging, simple past and past participle stranged)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To alienate; to estrange.
  2. (obsolete, intransitive) To be estranged or alienated.
  3. (obsolete, intransitive) To wonder; to be astonished at (something).
    • 1661, Joseph Glanvill, chapter XIX, in The Vanity of Dogmatizing: Or Confidence in Opinions. […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, page 184:
      [I]f the world and motion were not from Eternity, then God was Idle; were all the Aſſertions of Ariſtotle, which Theology pronounceth impieties. Which yet we need not ſtrange at from one, of whom a Father ſaith, Nec Deum coluit nec curavit [he neither worshipped nor cared for God]: […]

Derived terms

Noun

strange (uncountable)

  1. (slang, uncountable) Sex outside of one's current relationship.
    • 2017, J.D. Kleinke, Dudeville:
      All he has to do is walk into a bar, and he can get some Strange.'” “Oh yeah, Tom,” I mutter, “that's exactly how it was, every Saturday night. Nothing but Strange. Up here too.”

Derived terms

Anagrams

Esperanto

Etymology

stranga (“strange”) +‎ -e

Pronunciation

Adverb

strange

  1. strangely

Middle English

Adjective

strange

  1. Alternative form of straunge

Old English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈstrɑnɡe/, [ˈstrɑŋɡe]

Adjective

strange

  1. Inflected form of strang

West Flemish

Noun

strange n

  1. beach
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