Strange

• POS: Adjective, Adverb

CIDE DICTIONARY

Strange, a. [OE. estrange, F. étrange, fr. L. extraneus that is without, external, foreign, fr. extra on the outside. See Extra, and cf. Estrange, Extraneous.].

•  Belonging to another country; foreign.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

  "One of the strange queen's lords."  [1913 Webster]

  "I do not contemn the knowledge of strange and divers tongues."  [1913 Webster]
•  Of or pertaining to others; not one's own; not pertaining to one's self; not domestic.  [1913 Webster]

  "So she, impatient her own faults to see,
  Turns from herself, and in strange things delights."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not before known, heard, or seen; new.  [1913 Webster]

  "Here is the hand and seal of the duke; you know the character, I doubt not; and the signet is not strange to you."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not according to the common way; novel; odd; unusual; irregular; extraordinary; unnatural; queer.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "Sated at length, erelong I might perceive
  Strange alteration in me."  [1913 Webster]
•  Reserved; distant in deportment.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "She may be strange and shy at first, but will soon learn to love thee."  [1913 Webster]
•  Backward; slow.  [1913 Webster]

  "Who, loving the effect, would not be strange
  In favoring the cause."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not familiar; unaccustomed; inexperienced.  [1913 Webster]

  " Strange is often used as an exclamation."  [1913 Webster]

  "In thy fortunes am unlearned and strange."  [1913 Webster]

  "Strange! what extremes should thus preserve the snow
  High on the Alps, or in deep caves below."  [1913 Webster]

Strange sail (Naut.), an unknown vessel. -- Strange woman (Script.), a harlot. Prov. v. 3. -- To make it strange. (a) To assume ignorance, suspicion, or alarm, concerning it. Shak. (b) To make it a matter of difficulty. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- To make strange, To make one's self strange. (a) To profess ignorance or astonishment. (b) To assume the character of a stranger. Gen. xlii. 7.

Syn. -- Foreign; new; outlandish; wonderful; astonishing; marvelous; unusual; odd; uncommon; irregular; queer; eccentric.

Strange, adv. 

 Strangely.  [1913 Webster]
"Most strange, but yet most truly, will I speak."  [1913 Webster]

Strange, v. t. 

 To alienate; to estrange.  [1913 Webster]

Strange, v. i. 

•  To be estranged or alienated.  [1913 Webster]
•  To wonder; to be astonished.  Glanvill.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Strange, adj.
1 unusual, peculiar, surprising, eccentric, novel.
2 a (often foll. by to) unfamiliar, alien, foreign (lost in a strange land). b not one's own (strange gods).
3 (foll. by to) unaccustomed.
4 not at ease; out of one's element (felt strange in such company).

Idiom

feel strange be unwell. strange particle Physics an elementary particle classified as having a non-zero value for strangeness. strange to say it is surprising or unusual (that).

Derivative

strangely adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF estrange f. L extraneus EXTRANEOUS

THESAURUS

Strange

aberrant, able, abnormal, absurd, alien, amazing, anomalous, apart, astonishing, astounding, atypical, barbarian, barbaric, barbarous, beguiling, bereft of reason, bewildering, bizarre, brainsick, crackbrained, cracked, crank, crankish, cranky, crazed, crazy, crotchety, curious, daft, deluded, demented, deprived of reason, deranged, detached, deviant, deviative, different, disconnected, discrete, disjunct, disoriented, disrelated, dissociated, distraught, divergent, dotty, eccentric, enigmatic, erratic, exceptional, exotic, exterior, external, extraneous, extraordinary, extraterrestrial, extrinsic, fabulous, fantastic, fascinating, fey, fishy, flaky, flighty, foreign, foreign-born, freaked out, freakish, freaky, funny, grotesque, hallucinated, idiocratic, idiosyncratic, incalculable, incognizable, incommensurable, incomparable, incomprehensible, inconceivable, incredible, independent, inexplicable, insane, insular, intrusive, irrational, irregular, irrelative, isolated, kinky, kooky, loco, lunatic, mad, maddened, maggoty, manic, marvelous, mazed, mental, mentally deficient, meshuggah, miraculous, moon-struck, mysterious, new, non compos, non compos mentis, not all there, not right, novel, nutty, odd, oddball, of unsound mind, off, off the wall, offbeat, original, other, out, out-of-the-way, outland, outlandish, outre, outside, passing strange, peculiar, phenomenal, prodigious, psycho, puzzling, quaint, queer, quirky, rare, reasonless, remarkable, removed, romanesque, romantic, rum, rummy, screwball, screwy, sealed, segregate, sensational, senseless, separate, separated, sick, singular, spectacular, stark-mad, stark-staring mad, striking, stupendous, surprising, tetched, touched, twisted, ulterior, unaccountable, unaccustomed, unaffiliated, unallied, unapparent, unapprehended, unascertained, unassociated, unbalanced, unbeknown, uncanny, uncharted, unclassified, uncommon, unconnected, unconventional, uncouth, undisclosed, undiscoverable, undiscovered, undivulged, unearthly, unexplained, unexplored, unexposed, unfamiliar, unfathomed, unheard, unheard-of, unhinged, unidentified, unimaginable, uninvestigated, unique, unknowable, unknown, unnatural, unperceived, unplumbed, unprecedented, unrelatable, unrelated, unrevealed, unsane, unsettled, unsound, unsuspected, untouched, unusual, virgin, wacky, wandering, weird, whimsical, witless, wonderful, wondrous, wondrous strange

ROGET THESAURUS

Strange

Irrelation

N irrelation, dissociation, misrelation, inapplicability, inconnection, multifariousness, disconnection, inconsequence, independence, incommensurability, irreconcilableness, heterogeneity, unconformity, irrelevancy, impertinence, nihil ad rem, intrusion, non-pertinence, irrelative, irrespective, unrelated, arbitrary, independent, unallied, unconnected, disconnected, adrift, isolated, insular, extraneous, strange, alien, foreign, outlandish, exotic, not comparable, incommensurable, heterogeneous, unconformable, irrelevant, inapplicable, not pertinent, not to the, purpose, impertinent, inapposite, beside the mark, a propos de bottes, aside from the purpose, away from the purpose, foreign to the purpose, beside the purpose, beside the question, beside the transaction, beside the point, misplaced, traveling out of the record, remote, far-fetched, out of the way, forced, neither here nor there, quite another thing, detached, segregate, disquiparant, multifarious, discordant, incidental, parenthetical, obiter dicta, episodic, parenthetically, by the way, by the by, en passant, incidentally, irrespectively, without reference to, without regard to, in the abstract, a se.

Unconformity

N unconformity, nonconformity, unconformity, disconformity, unconventionality, informality, abnormity, abnormality, anomaly, anomalousness, exception, peculiarity, infraction of law, breach, of law, violation of law, violation of custom, violation of usage, infringement of law, infringement of custom, infringement of usage, teratism, eccentricity, bizarrerie, oddity, je ne sais quoi, monster, monstrosity, rarity, freak, freak of Nature, weirdo, mutant, rouser, snorter, individuality, idiosyncrasy, originality, mannerism, aberration, irregularity, variety, singularity, exemption, salvo, nonconformist, nondescript, character, original, nonesuch, nonsuch, monster, prodigy, wonder, miracle, curiosity, flying fish, black sheep, black swan, lusus naturae, rara avis, queer fish, mongrel, random breed, half-caste, half-blood, half-breed, metis, crossbreed, hybrid, mule, hinny, mulatto, tertium quid, hermaphrodite, phoenix, chimera, hydra, sphinx, minotaur, griffin, griffon, centaur, saggittary, kraken, cockatrice, wyvern, roc, dragon, sea serpent, mermaid, merman, merfolk, unicorn, Cyclops, men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders, teratology, fish out of water, neither one thing nor another, neither fish nor fowl, neither fish flesh nor fowl nor good red herring, one in a million, one in a way, one in a thousand, outcast, outlaw, off the beaten track, oasis, uncomformable, exceptional, abnormal, abnormous, anomalous, anomalistic, out of order, out of place, out of keeping, out of tune, out of one's element, irregular, arbitrary, teratogenic, lawless, informal, aberrant, stray, wandering, wanton, peculiar, exclusive, unnatural, eccentric, egregious, out of the beaten track, off the beaten track, out of the common, out of the common run, beyond the pale of, out of the pale of, misplaced, funny, unusual, unaccustomed, uncustomary, unwonted, uncommon, rare, curious, odd, extraordinary, out of the ordinary, strange, monstrous, wonderful, unexpected, unaccountable, outre, out of the way, remarkable, noteworthy, queer, quaint, nondescript, none such, sui generis, unfashionable, fantastic, grotesque, bizarre, outlandish, exotic, tombe des nues, preternatural, denaturalized, heterogeneous, heteroclite, amorphous, mongrel, amphibious, epicene, half blood, hybrid, androgynous, androgynal, asymmetric, adelomorphous, bisexual, hermaphrodite, monoclinous, qualified, singular, unique, one-of-a-kind, newfangled, novel, non-classical, original, unconventional, unheard of, unfamiliar, undescribed, unprecedented, unparalleled, unexampled, unconformably, except, unless, save barring, beside, without, save and except, let alone, however, yet, but, once in a blue moon, once in a million years, Int, what on earth!, what in the world!, What the devil!, Holy cow!, Can you top that?, Sacre bleu, never was seen the like, never was heard the like, never was known the like, I could hardly believe it, I saw it, but I didn't believe it.

Ridiculousness

N ridiculousness, comicality, oddity, extravagance, drollery, farce, comedy, burlesque, buffoonery, frippery, doggerel verses, absurdity, bombast, anticlimax, bathos, eccentricity, monstrosity, laughingstock, ridiculous, ludicrous, comical, droll, funny, laughable, pour rire, grotesque, farcical, odd, whimsical, whimsical as a dancing bear, fanciful, fantastic, queer, rum, quizzical, quaint, bizarre, screaming, eccentric, strange, outlandish, out of the way, baroque, weird, awkward, extravagant, outre, monstrous, preposterous, bombastic, inflated, stilted, burlesque, mock heroic, drollish, seriocomic, tragicomic, gimcrack, contemptible, doggerel, ironical, risible, risum teneatis amici, rideret Heraclitus, du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas.

Wonder

N wonder, marvel, astonishment, amazement, wonderment, bewilderment, amazedness, admiration, awe, stupor, stupefaction, stound, fascination, sensation, surprise, note of admiration, thaumaturgy, surprised, aghast, all agog, breathless, agape, open- mouthed, awestruck, thunderstruck, moonstruck, planet-struck, spellbound, lost in amazement, lost in wonder, lost in astonishment, struck all of a heap, unable to believe one's senses, like a duck ion thunder, wonderful, wondrous, surprising, unexpected, unheard of, mysterious, miraculous, indescribable, inexpressible, inaffable, unutterable, unspeakable, monstrous, prodigious, stupendous, marvelous, inconceivable, incredible, inimaginable, unimaginable, strange, passing strange, striking, overwhelming, wonder-working, wonderfully fearfully, for a wonder, in the name of wonder, strange to say, mirabile dictu, mirabile visu, to one's great surprise, with wonder, with gaping mouth, with open eyes, with upturned eyes, Int, lo, lo and behold!, O!, heyday!, halloo!, what!, indeed!, really!, surely!, humph!, hem!, good lack, good heavens, good gracious!, Ye gods!, good Lord!, good grief!, Holy cow!, My word!, Holy shit!, gad so!, welladay!, dear me!, only think!, lackadaisy!, my stars, my goodness!, gracious goodness!, goodness gracious!, mercy on us!, heavens and earth!, God bless me!, bless us, bless my heart!, odzookens!, O gemini!, adzooks!, hoity-toity!, strong!, Heaven save the mark, bless the mark!, can such things be!, zounds!, 'sdeath!, what on earth, what in the world!, who would have thought it!, you don't say so!, You're kidding!, No kidding? what do you say to that!, nous verrons!, how now!, where am I?, vox faucibus haesit, one's hair standing on end.

Improbability

N improbability, unlikelihood, unfavorable chance, bad chance, ghost of a chance, little chance, small chance, poor chance, scarcely any chance, no chance, bare possibility, long odds, incredibility, improbable, unlikely, contrary to all reasonable expectation, wild, far out, out of sight, outtasight, heavy, rare, unheard of, inconceivable, unimaginable, inimaginable, incredible, more than doubtful, strange, bizarre (uncomformable), the chances are against, aquila non capit muscas, pedir peras pal olmo.