I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a new/cruel/unexpected/strange etc twist
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The robbery took a deadly new twist as the robber pulled out a gun.
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an unexpected twist in the plot
a strange country (= not your own country )
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She was in a strange country, with no friends and no family.
a strange phenomenon
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What could explain this strange phenomenon?
a strange sound
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I heard a strange sound coming from outside.
a strange/curious coincidence
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What a strange coincidence that you were both living in Bangkok at the same time.
a strange/funny noise
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What’s that funny noise?
a strange/funny/odd smell
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What’s that funny smell?
a strange/peculiar/odd habit
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He had a lot of peculiar habits, one of them being to stare at you without blinking.
a strange/unusual incident
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Any unusual incidents should be reported to the police.
a strange/unusual request
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This is rather an unusual request.
a strange/weird dream
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Sometimes I have a strange dream in which I try to speak but I can’t.
by a strange quirk of fate
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Years later, by a strange quirk of fate , she found herself sitting next to him on a plane.
complete stranger
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a complete stranger
have a sweet/strange etc taste
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The soup had a funny taste.
in a funny/strange etc kind of way
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In a funny kind of way, the bullying made me a stronger person.
it strikes sb as strange/odd etc that
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It struck me as odd that the man didn’t introduce himself before he spoke.
sb's/sth's odd/strange appearance
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Children sometimes stared at him because of his odd appearance.
seem important/right/strange etc to sb
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Doesn’t that seem weird to you?
smell funny/strange
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This place smells funny sometimes.
strange/odd
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As we looked at each other I had a strange sensation.
strange/odd/peculiar/funny
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The sweets had a rather peculiar taste.
strange/unusual/mysterious etc happenings
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There have been reports of strange happenings in the town.
taste funny/odd/strange
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These fruit drinks taste a bit funny until you get used to them.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
how
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And then she thought how strange it was the Leader did not seem concerned in case she should try to escape.
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Then I got dressed and went into the middle room. How strange !
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But how strange that he should arrive before her.
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How icy, she thought, how strange .
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I was what the materialists declared a human to be, an automaton. How strange !
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She knelt on the step, and looked up at the altar. How strange , she thought.
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I don't think anyone realised how strange it all was for me.
rather
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It came in a rather strange form.
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Well, that itself is a rather strange tale.
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The theory that talk is a mode of transport sounds rather strange .
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She would come back with rather strange vegetation.
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Many people may think I am rather strange in comparing two horror books.
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It made him feel rather strange , rather safe and happy, and as if perhaps all of it were unreal.
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This may appear to be a rather strange task to use.
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It seems rather strange that, if one does one's job well, one's opportunities are reduced.
so
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Three nights ago was so strange .
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I had never seen my grandmother looking so strange .
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Strange how they can be so strange and then, quite suddenly, so normal.
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Is it really so strange that she uses the word conspiracy?
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She said: it's so strange .
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How could I absorb the language of atheistic materialism and class struggle when it seemed so strange and pernicious?
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That was when she understood why he looked so strange .
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They were so beautiful, yet so strange .
very
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It was a hot day, and I think I must have been half asleep when I noticed something very strange .
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Their marriage has been very strange .
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Several hours earlier the caliph woke feeling very strange .
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We praised everything again and again, though actually the flavors were very strange .
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Japetus alone possessed a distinctive geography, and a very strange one indeed.
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This second metal was very strange as we could see through it to some mysterious writing and pictures.
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Love, apparently, is a very strange , beautifully lit phenomena.
■ NOUN
creature
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He simply had no idea what these strange creatures could look like in the flesh.
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From there, he studied this strange creature more closely.
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What makes us strange creatures tick, Liz, do you know?
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But no person could command these strange creatures more than three times.
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In Islington strange creatures appear on the streets at midday.
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Spinning bodies, eyes popping out of heads, hair standing on end, characters morphing into strange creatures .
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Retreating from the strange creature Barbara loses her balance and tumbles over a cliff.
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What if this strange creature also stored toxins in its liver?
feeling
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While Steve was busying himself John asked him about the bridge and the strange feeling in the cutting.
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Many wanted to share their strange feelings of malaise.
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It was a strange feeling when four o'clock arrived and the day trippers departed.
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It was just a strange feeling and of course the inability to contact anyone in the Shill's room.
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For Lisa the experience was a revelation - and a chance to shake off her earlier strange feelings .
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I remember the strange feeling I had when I left the square that night, a feeling of finality.
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What a strange feeling to be leaving Gateshead, my home for the whole of my childhood!
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That strange feeling he had experienced in the hall: had it been repeated on the landing?
land
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Many of our people sickened and died, and we buried them in this strange land .
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In their place were a strange land , a strange people, and the ever-present possibility of violence and extinction.
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The high that resulted produced sensations of flying, often accompanied by fantastic visions of strange lands .
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The stranger in a strange land sees more and sees fresh.
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With no knowledge of the language or people, he is truly a stranger in a strange land .
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He triumphed because he was in a strange land and he knew how to be patient and how to pray.
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So they fetched this poor innocent away from his family, across the sea, to a strange land .
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What song did the daughter sing-alone, among strangers, in a strange land ?
man
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Telling her not to speak to strange men would be like asking if the Pope was free on Sunday.
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There is a small, strange man in heaven, a head angel, some kind of boss.
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He moved away from the strange man , anxious to leave quickly.
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Such a strange proposal from such a strange man .
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Have I been asleep under a hedge with a strange man not my husband?
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ElijahA strange man who prophesies doom for the Pequod.
noise
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Then the baby began to make strange noises , and Alice looked into its face again.
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But is that worse than strange noises in the bedroom closet?
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Some strange noises came from one of the children and Asik thought he must have been in pain.
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There were a lot of strange noises like the sound of the refrigerator unit going on and off in the trailer.
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Sometimes the Forfarshire's engines made strange noises , and the paddle wheels went round slowly.
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Nor had she lost her nerve, as evidenced by her conduct one night when Marian heard a strange noise .
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What was that strange noise - Co-ack?
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Birds make strange noises in winter in the middle of the woods.
place
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It was a strange place , and as he looked up at it now, he shivered.
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If Pat Buchanan has a beef with trade policy, Iowa is a strange place to press his protectionist case.
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People chose the strangest places to leave their rubbish.
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You probably think this is a strange place .
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A strange place , cold and sombre.
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The definite article was inclined to appear in strange places , and to disappear from other places where it should have been.
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It was a strange place , this.
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He spent a whole year bumming from friends, crashing in strange places , selling weed with pals to make his bread.
reason
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People have fallen in love for stranger reasons , but music has obviously played a central role in their marriage.
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An inordinate number of barber shops, for some strange reason , seem to deal in this kind of exchange speculation.
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For some strange reason , I slept like a baby.
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For sonic strange reason management did not share our insight.
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They invent strange reasons for doing so, saying that it has used anti-competitive practices.
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He'd obviously set a lot of store by that leg, for some strange reason .
sensation
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It was a strange sensation to have them on - more intimate than sleeping with his widow.
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The strangest sensation of all was the motion of the room.
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In spite of her sore butt and the strange sensation between her legs, she wasn't unduly stressed.
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I feel a little curl of strange sensation working its way down from the bottom of my spine.
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And all at once a strange sensation came over him.
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She was gripped by something else, a truly strange sensation .
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It is a strange sensation , but many sense it from time to time: a consuming desire to part with money.
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But as we looked at each other I had a strange sensation .
sight
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It was no longer a strange sight to see blind men at a spectacle.
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When they were all sitting in a row on the top of the wall they looked down and saw a strange sight .
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Chesarynth gripped it convulsively at the strange sight of people milling around.
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What a strange sight , but even that seemed to belong where it was.
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I must have made a strange sight , crumpled up on the floor trying to read that opening paragraph.
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For thousands of years, this strange sight has frightened millions, and has been thought to portend evil or calamitous events.
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It must have been a very strange sight .
sound
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Terms of abuse Many racist words are derived from the strange sounds made by foreigners.
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As he paused to let his eyes adjust to the dimness of the nave, he heard a strange sound .
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Viewed objectively, these are strange sounds to offer an attacker.
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I heard a strange sound coming from the hut, but I could not think what was making the noise.
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Ghosts there were, and shadows to frighten a mole, and strange sounds from the few entrances that still remained.
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As she felt a desire to scream there was a strange sound in the room.
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So much will be strange to it; strange sights, strange sounds , strange everything.
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On occasions stones appear to glow, and strange sounds emerge.
thing
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And, meanwhile, a strange thing happened.
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The strange thing is that they are so few.
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Tourists do strange things on the Granada Studios tour.
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She wrote: But then a strange thing happened in my sleep.
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The other strange thing is that they look happy all the time.
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After that, a strange thing happened.
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What's the strangest thing a fan has ever done?
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Then strange things started to happen.
way
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I mean Micky just seemed so nice, so friendly and, in a strange way , so lonely.
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I got strange ways of getting off.
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In a strange way I felt almost embarrassed that such things were happening in my name.
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Admetus had just lost his wife in a very strange way .
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He had a very loud, metallic voice, a little like Arsenio's in a strange way .
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This kind of irritation grew here and there in strange ways .
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But the sight of her in tears disarmed him in the strangest way .
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Surely these folks were great pals but that strikes me as a strange way to show it.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be a (beautiful/strange/frightening etc) sight to behold
be no stranger to sth
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Derek is no stranger to controversy.
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Andrew himself is no stranger to the big screen and has featured in several commercials.
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B quartet whose self-titled debut has already sold more than a million copies, is no stranger to having hits.
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But Tabitha is no stranger to confrontation.
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Fien is no stranger to Tormey, who recruited him when he was defensive coordinator at Washington.
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His security police are no strangers to intimidation when it comes to striking fear into Ciskei's 850,000 poverty-stricken people.
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Leach was no stranger to Niagara stunts.
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They are no strangers to controversy.
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Toughguy crime novelist Robert B.. Parker is no stranger to the buried life.
cut a fine/strange etc figure
don't be a stranger!
hello, stranger!
strange bedfellows
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Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and megacorporations, not to mention cross-company teams, often result in strange bedfellows .
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Rumours say he's co-operating with some strange bedfellows .
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Strange bedfellows Adversity - or is it perversity? - certainly makes strange bedfellows.
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The Prime Minister has, of course, produced some novel marriages, some very strange bedfellows .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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A strange noise woke her up.
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a strange noise
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Amanda's eyes glowed in a strange way, like a cat's.
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Can you check out that strange noise outside?
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Gabby is a strange girl.
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He's very strange - you never really know what he's thinking.
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He seemed to know lots of things about me, but the strange thing is I didn't even tell him my name.
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He was a little nervous about moving to a strange country where he didn't know anyone.
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His strange behaviour made Teresa suspicious.
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I could hear strange voices outside the room.
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I had a strange feeling that I'd been there before.
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It's strange that you've never met him - he lives in your street.
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It was strange that she had had this baby with red hair when both she and her husband were very dark.
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It was hard for her, going to live in a strange city where she knew no-one.
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Marla has some strange ideas about raising children.
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Meryl was lost and all alone in a strange city.
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Mum, come quick! There's a strange man coming up the path.
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Pearl was a strange girl who never played with the other children.
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The strange food made her ill.
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You say she's at home? That's strange because she told me she was going abroad for two weeks.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Blue speaks her name, in a voice that seems strange to him, and she stops dead in her tracks.
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Condemned men often find a strange peace as the hour of their death comes closer.
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He looks after the mentally retarded man, Lennie, and their relationship is a strange one.
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I thought it was a little strange , and then I remembered the photograph behind his desk in his office.
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It was strange , learning to make decisions together.
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Ten days in an alien village with a total stranger and her totally strange family.
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The description, which I had read in a recent newspaper account, had struck me as infinitely ironic and strange .
II. adverb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be a (beautiful/strange/frightening etc) sight to behold
be no stranger to sth
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Derek is no stranger to controversy.
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Andrew himself is no stranger to the big screen and has featured in several commercials.
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B quartet whose self-titled debut has already sold more than a million copies, is no stranger to having hits.
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But Tabitha is no stranger to confrontation.
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Fien is no stranger to Tormey, who recruited him when he was defensive coordinator at Washington.
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His security police are no strangers to intimidation when it comes to striking fear into Ciskei's 850,000 poverty-stricken people.
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Leach was no stranger to Niagara stunts.
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They are no strangers to controversy.
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Toughguy crime novelist Robert B.. Parker is no stranger to the buried life.
cut a fine/strange etc figure
don't be a stranger!
hello, stranger!
perfect stranger/fool/angel etc
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A year before he had, but that year had changed him, eliminated the sentiment and made him a perfect stranger.
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Again he was a person, no longer a perfect stranger.
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Asked to stand guard over good or treasure, they would good-naturedly hand everything over to a perfect stranger.
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I was then to ask what people thought about being smiled at by a perfect stranger.
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She turned into an expert at coaxing food and lodging invitations out of perfect strangers.
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Some oranges in a commune, like perfect strangers, dwell upon their own navels, untransformed.
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They put money on the table, too, perfect strangers expressing unmistakable monetary interest in the Tonelli Nation.
strange bedfellows
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Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and megacorporations, not to mention cross-company teams, often result in strange bedfellows .
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Rumours say he's co-operating with some strange bedfellows .
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Strange bedfellows Adversity - or is it perversity? - certainly makes strange bedfellows.
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The Prime Minister has, of course, produced some novel marriages, some very strange bedfellows .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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The dog's been acting strange all week.
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The downtown streets were strangely empty and peaceful.
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Witnesses said the man was carrying a gun and behaving strangely.