strain

CEFRB1

/stɹeɪn/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To use too much effort or force.

  2. 02

    noun

    An injury caused by overstretching a muscle.

Examples

  • The strain has begun to tell on his health.

  • The transport service cannot cope with the strain of so many additional passengers.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. A particular variety of a microbe, virus, or other organism, usually a taxonomically infraspecific one.

  2. Hereditary character, quality, tendency, or disposition.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. Race; lineage, pedigree.

More examples

In context

  • The liquid does not strain well.

  • There is a strain of madness in her family.

  • They say this year's flu virus is a particularly virulent strain.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

He had to blank his muscles to lift the heavy box.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English streen, strene, streon, istreon (“race, stock, generation”), from Old English strēon, ġestrēon (“gain, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *streuną (“heap, treasure, profit, gain”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, strew”) (cognate with Old Saxon gistriuni, Old High German gistriuni (“gain, property, wealth, business”), Latin strues (“heap”)). Confused in Middle English with the related noun strend, strynd, strund, from Old English strȳnd (“race; stock”), from strēonan, strȳnan (“to beget; acquire”). Related also to Dutch struinen (“to prowl, root about, rout”).