From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstrangerstrang‧er /ˈstreɪndʒə $ -ər/ ●●○ W2 noun [countable] 1 NOT KNOWsomeone that you do not know Children must not talk to strangers.perfect/complete/total stranger (=used to emphasize that you do not know them) Julie finds it easy to speak to complete strangers. ► Do not use stranger to mean ‘a person from another country’. Use foreigner or, more politely, say that someone is from abroad/overseas.2 → be no stranger to something3 NOT KNOWsomeone in a new and unfamiliar place ‘Where’s the station?’ ‘Sorry, I’m a stranger here myself.’4 → hello, stranger!5 → don’t be a stranger!COLLOCATIONSadjectivesa complete/perfect/total stranger (=used to emphasize that you do not know the person)Really, I don't know why I'm revealing all this to a complete stranger.a virtual stranger (=someone you hardly know)I hadn't seen him for so long that he seemed like a virtual stranger.a passing stranger (=one you pass in the street)Do not give your camera to a passing stranger and ask him to take a picture of you.a mysterious strangerShe never knew who the mysterious stranger was who had helped her that night.
Examples from the Corpus
stranger• Begin by watching yourself for half an hour each day as if you are a stranger.• Violence in the home is as much a crime as violence from a stranger, so do not put up with it.• The people I stayed with were very kind, so I didn't feel like a stranger for long.• With no knowledge of the language or people, he is truly a stranger in a strange land.• Many of the farming families have lived here for hundreds of years, and tend to treat everyone else as strangers.• Instead we might have been strangers.• The boy was a complete stranger to me.• Carly, don't ever take candy from strangers.• Student volunteers are relying on home hospitality from strangers, supporters who are supplying free rooms for the summer.• The room was full of strangers.• People nudged one another and nodded at this tall stranger, conspicuous in his limp white suit and dark shirt.• The stranger began a series of intonations, breathing noisily.• After assuming office, he was reluctant to use the existing speech writers because they were strangers to him.perfect/complete/total stranger• Have you gone mad, talking of marrying a total stranger - and a foreigner - after five minutes?• Honest, to a total stranger he said all that!• Ten days in an alien village with a total stranger and her totally strange family.• The approach was to build one committed team from a group of total strangers.• Malouf is fascinated by the sometimes violent impact that complete strangers can have upon our lives.• They put money on the table, too, perfect strangers expressing unmistakable monetary interest in the Tonelli Nation.• It was the perfect excuse for ringing up complete strangers and asking all sort of personal questions.Origin stranger (1300-1400) Old French estrangier, from estrange; → STRANGE1 