strange
English
Etymology
From Middle English straunge, strange, stronge, from Old French estrange, from Latin extraneus (“that which is on the outside”). Doublet of extraneous. Displaced native Middle English fremde, fremede, frempt (“strange”) (from Old English fremede, fremde). Cognate with French étrange (“strange, foreign”) and Spanish extranjero (“foreign”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
strange (comparative stranger, superlative strangest)
- Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary.
- He thought it strange that his girlfriend wore shorts in the winter.
- c. 1598 William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, Act IV, Scene 1,[1]
- I do love nothing in the world so well as you: is not that strange?
- 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 9, lines 598-601,[2]
- 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.
- Unfamiliar, not yet part of one's experience.
- I moved to a strange town when I was ten.
- c. 1604 William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act IV, Scene 2,[3]
- […] 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.
- (physics) Having the quantum mechanical property of strangeness.
- 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.
- 2004 Frank Close, Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 93:
- (mathematics) Of an attractor: having a fractal structure.
- (obsolete) Belonging to another country; foreign.
- 1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, London, Book 1,[4]
- I take goyng thither [to Italy], and liuing there, for a yonge ientleman, that doth not goe vnder the kepe and garde of such a man, as both, by wisedome can, and authoritie dare rewle him, to be meruelous dangerous […] not bicause I do contemne, either the knowledge of strange and diuerse tonges, and namelie the Italian tonge […] or else bicause I do despise, the learning that is gotten […]
- c. 1594 William Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act IV, Scene 2,[5]
- […] one of the strange queen’s lords.
- 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalm 137:4,[6]
- How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?
- 1662, Samuel Pepys, Diary entry dated 27 November, 1662, in Henry B. Wheatley (editor), The Diary of Samuel Pepys, New York: Croscup & Sterling, 1893, Volume 2, Part 2, p. 377,[7]
- I could not see the [Russian] Embassador in his coach; but his attendants in their habits and fur caps very handsome, comely men […] But Lord! to see the absurd nature of Englishmen, that cannot forbear laughing and jeering at every thing that looks strange.
- 1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, London, Book 1,[4]
- (obsolete) Reserved; distant in deportment.
- c. 1596 William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene 1,[8]
- Good signiors both, when shall we laugh? say, when?
- You grow exceeding strange: must it be so?
- 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, Chapter 19, p. 253,[9]
- She may be strange and shy at first, but will soon learn to love thee!
- c. 1596 William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene 1,[8]
- (obsolete) Backward; slow.
- 1621, Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Thierry and Theodoret, London: Thomas Walkley, Act III, Scene 1,[10]
- […] to his name your barrennesse adds rule;
- Who louing the effect, would not be strange
- In fauoring the cause; looke on the profit,
- And gaine will quickly point the mischiefe out.
- 1621, Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Thierry and Theodoret, London: Thomas Walkley, Act III, Scene 1,[10]
- (obsolete) Not familiar; unaccustomed; inexperienced.
- c. 1607 William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, Act IV, Scene 3,[11]
- I know thee well;
- But in thy fortunes am unlearn’d and strange.
- c. 1607 William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, Act IV, Scene 3,[11]
- (law) Not belonging to one.
Synonyms
- (not normal): See Thesaurus:strange
- (not part of one's experience): new, unfamiliar, unknown
Antonyms
- (not normal): everyday, normal, regular (especially US), standard, usual, unsurprising
- (not part of one's experience): familiar, known
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
not normal
|
not yet part of one’s experience
|
in quantum mechanics
belonging to another country, foreign
|
Verb
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- (obsolete, transitive) To alienate; to estrange.
- (obsolete, intransitive) To be estranged or alienated.
- (obsolete, intransitive) To wonder; to be astonished (at something).
- 1661, Joseph Glanvill, The Vanity of Dogmatizing, London: Henry Eversden, Chapter 19, p. 184,[12]
- [these] 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]:
- 1661, Joseph Glanvill, The Vanity of Dogmatizing, London: Henry Eversden, Chapter 19, p. 184,[12]
Derived terms
Noun
strange (uncountable)
- (slang, uncountable) vagina
- 2013 "Taming Strange" (episode of South Park TV series)
- Ike: Yeah, for my cool cool trick I'm gonna tame Foofa's strange.
- Plex: Tame mo-what?
- Ike: I can tame Foofa's strange, bro.
- 2013 "Taming Strange" (episode of South Park TV series)
Anagrams
Esperanto
Adverb
strange
Middle English
Adjective
strange
- Alternative form of straunge
Old English
Pronunciation
Adjective
strange
- Inflected form of strang
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