interloper

C2 Topic:Health & Medicine
US /ˌɪntɚˈloʊ̯pɚ/ UK /ˌɪntəˈləʊ̯pə/
noun Freq #48726

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    One who interferes, intrudes or gets involved where not welcome, particularly a self-interested intruder.

    They disliked the interloper, and forced him to leave.

Thesaurus

Word family
Related forms busybodybuttinskyencroachergatecrasherinterlopekibitzerlopemarplotmeddler

Etymology

From inter- + loper (“runner, rover”), as in landloper (“vagrant”) (from lope (“to leap, to jump”) (originally dialectal)). Originally spelt enterloper and used in specific sense, “unauthorized trader trespassing on privileges of chartered companies”, later general sense of “self-interested intruder” from 1630s.

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