How do you use the word "strain" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "strain": The strain has begun to tell on his health. The liquid does not strain well.

Strain Meaning

/stɹeɪn/

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounRace; lineage, pedigree.

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

Sentence Examples

The strain has begun to tell on his health.

The liquid does not strain well.

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

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

try air line

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

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

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The heavy boxes put a lot of ____ on his back, and he had to take several breaks throughout the day.

Word Origin & History

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”).

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"He is of a noble strain." — 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

"[…] with animals and plants a cross between different varieties, or between individuals of the same variety but of another strain, gives vigour and fertility to the offspring; […]" — 1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Natural Selection”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 96:

"European scientists have discovered a new strain of the virus that causes AIDS and linked it to gorillas, creating a mystery about when and how the first patient found to have the strain became infected." — 2009 August 4, Lawrence K. Altman, “New Strain of H.I.V. Is Discovered”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

"Intemperance and Luſt breed infirmities and diſeaſes, which, being propagated, ſpoil the Strain of a Nation." — 1671, John Tillotson, “Prov[erbs] xiv. 34.”, in Sermons Preach’d upon Several Occasions, London: […] A[nne] M[axwell] for Sa[muel] Gellibrand, […], →OCLC, page 135:

"Yet Keats, though for so many years he has given nothing to the world, is understood to have devoted himself to the composition of an epic poem. Some passages of it have been communicated to the inner circle of his admirers, and impressed them as the loftiest strains that have been audible on earth since Milton’s days." — 1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “P.'s Correspondence”, in Mosses from an Old Manse:

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