Strange means unusual, unfamiliar, or different from what you normally expect. When something strikes you as strange, it catches your attention because it doesn't fit the patterns you're used to.

A strange noise in the middle of the night makes you wonder what caused it. A strange flavor in your food tastes different from anything you've tried before. Meeting someone with strange habits might mean they do things in ways you've never seen, like eating pizza with a fork and knife or reading books backward for fun.

Strange doesn't automatically mean bad. A strange idea might turn out to be brilliant: before the Wright brothers, most people thought flying machines were a strange dream. A strange new friend might become your closest companion once you get to know them. Scientists often make discoveries by investigating strange observations that don't match their predictions.

The word can also mean unfamiliar territory. When you visit a strange city, you don't know your way around yet. Everything feels new and different.

Sometimes people use strange to describe something that makes them uncomfortable or suspicious, like a strange person hanging around the playground. But context matters: what seems strange in one place might be perfectly normal somewhere else. Eating insects seems strange to most Americans, but it's common in many countries around the world.