interloper
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 5 June 2026
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 5, 2026 is:
interloper • \in-ter-LOH-per\ • noun
An interloper is a person who intrudes in a place or sphere of activity; they are not wanted or welcome by the other people present.
// Summer residents were regarded as interlopers who lacked a commitment to the town's welfare.
Examples:
"... my garden is wildlife friendly, sometimes too friendly. By not being overly concerned about interlopers, it welcomes birds and bugs now, including beneficial insects. They help keep things in balance. Not so welcome are rabbits, but they still find their way in." — David Hobson, The Waterloo (Ontario) Region Record, 16 Apr. 2026
Did you know?
If you keep chickens, a coyote loping around in the vicinity of your coop is not welcome. You'd be justified, both semantically and etymologically, in calling such a coyote an interloper. The -loper part of interloper shares an ancestor with the Old English verb hlēapan, meaning "to leap," and the Dutch verb lopen, meaning "to run." (The verb lope does too.) The prefix inter- means "between" or "among," so an interloper is essentially one that leaps in among others (for example, a flock of hens) without an invitation to do so. Interloper made itself at home among English speakers in the late 1500s; the verb interlope, which arrived close in tow in the early 1600s, is likely a back-formation.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 5th. |
| 0:10.0 | Today's word is interloper, spelled I-N-T-E-R-L-O-P-E-R. |
| 0:18.0 | Interloper is a noun. |
| 0:20.0 | An interloper is a person who intrudes in a place or sphere of |
| 0:23.8 | activity. They are not wanted or welcome by the other people present. Here's the word used in a sentence |
| 0:30.4 | from the Waterloo Region Record. My garden is wildlife friendly, sometimes too friendly. By not being overly concerned about interlopers, it welcomes birds and bugs now, including beneficial insects. |
| 0:45.1 | They help keep things in balance. |
| 0:47.5 | Not so welcome are rabbits, but they still find their way in. |
| 0:52.3 | If you keep chickens, a coyote loping around in the vicinity of your |
| 0:56.7 | coop is not welcome. You'd be justified both semantically and etymologically in calling |
| 1:03.0 | such a coyote an interloper. The loper part of interloper shares an ancestor with the old |
| 1:10.3 | English verb |
| 1:11.2 | Kleopan, meaning to leap, and the Dutch verb lopen, meaning to run. |
| 1:17.5 | The verb lope does too. The prefix inter means between or among, so an interloper is |
| 1:24.0 | essentially one that leaps in among others, for example, a flock of hands, |
| 1:28.8 | without an invitation to do so. |
| 1:31.5 | Interloper made itself at home among English speakers in the late 1500s. |
| 1:36.4 | The verb interlope, which arrived close in tow in the early 1600s, is likely a back formation. |
| 1:44.7 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
| 1:50.8 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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