stalker

noun

stalk·​er ˈstȯ-kər 

plural stalkers

1

: a person who stalks : a person who pursues someone obsessively and aggressively to the point of harassment

celebrity stalkers

In 1990, California was the first state to pass a stalking law that made it a crime to follow, threaten, or harass someone—especially if the stalker threatened violence.

—George

Eighty-seven percent of stalkers are men. Women tend to be victimized by lone male stalkers whom they know, while men are more likely to be stalked by strangers, and half of male victims' stalkers had an accomplice.

—Matthew Klein

2

: a person or animal that pursues quarry or prey stealthily

a deer stalker

Though I catch my share of trout, I do it by being a good stalker and knowing where the fish lie …

—Bill Barich

Polar bears are superb stalkers, and have a way of suddenly appearing heart-stoppingly close.

—John P. Wiley, Jr.

Examples of stalker in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The victim was struck with a gut shot after one of his stalkers opened fire, school safety sources told the Daily News. —Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 6 Dec. 2024

Instead, that bounty of private info has also leaked onto a lively black market—one where insiders sell off their own access to any scammer or stalker willing to pay. —Andy Greenberg, WIRED, 21 Nov. 2024

Alice, Sweet Alice plays a psychological game of whether or not Alice really is the one behind her sister’s death, and offers up some truly spooky stalker sequences. —Meagan Navarro, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2024

Filmmaker Erin Lee Carr got to the bottom of Tegan Quinn’s stalker problem in the documentary Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara— where the Canadian popstar learned more about how a person impersonating her deeply affected victims of her fanbase. —Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 18 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2