strange to say

Idioms

Also, strangely enough. Surprisingly, curiously, unaccountably, as in Strange to say, all the boys in his class are six feet tall or taller, or I've never been to the circus, strangely enough. This idiom was first recorded in 1697 as strange to relate.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I know it sounds strange to say that the revolution wasn’t about Islam; that the Iranian people were then, as they are now, religiously diverse, largely secular and with an ancient artistic, intellectual heritage rooted in Zoroastrianism.

From The Wall Street Journal

Given the appalling suffering in the Middle East it may sound strange to say the war in Ukraine is on a completely different level to this.

From BBC

All of which, strange to say, makes Mr. Curry’s memoir the more gripping.

From The Wall Street Journal

Then there was the light pollution, worsening crime, and, strange to say, a lot of black bears roaming the city streets.

From The Wall Street Journal

Strange to say, but this awful period seems almost quaint by comparison with our current discord.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023