Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The state or quality of being strong; physical power or capacity.
  • noun The capacity to resist attack; impregnability.
  • noun The capacity to resist strain or stress; durability.
  • noun The ability to deal with difficult situations or to maintain a moral or intellectual position.
  • noun The number of people constituting a normal or ideal organization.
  • noun Capability in terms of numbers or resources.
  • noun An attribute or quality of particular worth or utility; an asset.
  • noun One that is regarded as the embodiment of protective or supportive power; a support or mainstay.
  • noun Degree of concentration, distillation, or saturation.
  • noun Operative effectiveness or potency.
  • noun Intensity, as of sound or light.
  • noun Intensity of emotion or belief.
  • noun Cogency or persuasiveness.
  • noun Effective or binding force; efficacy.
  • noun Firmness of or a continuous rising tendency in prices, as of a currency or market.
  • noun Games Power derived from the value of playing cards held.
  • idiom (on the strength of) On the basis of.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The property of being strong; force; power.
  • noun In inanimate things, the property by which they sustain the application of force without breaking or yielding: as, the strength of a bone; the strength of a beam; the strength of a wall; the strength of a rope.
  • noun Hence Power or vigor of any kind; ability; capacity for work or effective action, whether physical, intellectual, or moral: as, strength of grasp or stroke; strength of mind, memory, or judgment; strength of feeling (that is, not intensity but effectiveness of emotion).
  • noun One who or that which is regarded as an embodiment of force or strength; that on which confidence or reliance is firmly set; stay; support; security.
  • noun Force; violence; vehemence; intensity.
  • noun Degree of the distinguishing or essential element or constituent; the power to produce sensible effects on other bodies; potency: said of liquors and the like: as, the strength of an acid; the strength of wine or spirits; the strength of a potion or a poison.
  • noun Force as measured or stated in figures; amount or numbers of any collective body, as of an army or a fleet: as, a play adapted to the whole strength of the company; the full strength of a regiment.
  • noun Available force or backing, as of a candidate: as, his strength is greatest in the cities.
  • noun Force proceeding from motion and proportioned to it; vehemence; impetuosity: as, the strength of a current of air or water; the strength of a charge of cavalry.
  • noun A stronghold.
  • noun In colors, the relative property possessed by a pigment of imparting a color to and modifying the shade of any other pigment to which it is added.
  • noun In the fine arts, boldness of conception or treatment.
  • noun In soap-making. See the quotation.
  • noun Synonyms Force, etc. See power.
  • To strengthen.
  • noun In milling, the bread-making quality of flour; the adhesive quality of the gluten in the flour. This, when the flour is made into dough, causes the dough to retain the carbonic-acid gas which results from the reaction of the yeast, and gives the dough greater power to rise and make a larger and finer loaf.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To strengthen.
  • noun The quality or state of being strong; ability to do or to bear; capacity for exertion or endurance, whether physical, intellectual, or moral; force; vigor; power.
  • noun Power to resist force; solidity or toughness; the quality of bodies by which they endure the application of force without breaking or yielding; -- in this sense opposed to frangibility.
  • noun Power of resisting attacks; impregnability.
  • noun That quality which tends to secure results; effective power in an institution or enactment; security; validity; legal or moral force; logical conclusiveness.
  • noun One who, or that which, is regarded as embodying or affording force, strength, or firmness; that on which confidence or reliance is based; support; security.
  • noun Force as measured; amount, numbers, or power of any body, as of an army, a navy, and the like; as, what is the strength of the enemy by land, or by sea?
  • noun Vigor or style; force of expression; nervous diction; -- said of literary work.
  • noun Intensity; -- said of light or color.
  • noun Intensity or degree of the distinguishing and essential element; spirit; virtue; excellence; -- said of liquors, solutions, etc..
  • noun obsolete A strong place; a stronghold.
  • noun in reliance upon.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The quality of being strong.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English strengthu.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English strengþu (corresponding to strong + -th). Written strenght in the 1534 Tyndale English translation of the Bible.

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Examples

  • On Tuesday afternoon, set against the sleek backdrop of a London hotel, the vice-chairman of Iraq\'s oil and gas committee, Abdul-Hadi al-Hassani, told the BBC that the time is right to invest in Iraq as the government has \ "gone from strength to strength\".

    James Denselow: Iraq hits Black Gold 2009

  • On Tuesday afternoon, set against the sleek backdrop of a London hotel, the vice-chairman of Iraq\'s oil and gas committee, Abdul-Hadi al-Hassani, told the BBC that the time is right to invest in Iraq as the government has \ "gone from strength to strength\".

    James Denselow: Iraq hits Black Gold 2009

  • The strength of a muscle is measured by the utmost force which it can exert _once_; its endurance by the number of times it can repeat a given exertion _well within its strength_.

    How to Live Rules for Healthful Living Based on Modern Science Eugene Lyman Fisk 1907

  • He became strenuous, diligent, modest, earnest, kind; he too, like Walter and Charlie, began his career "_from strength to strength_."

    St. Winifred's, or The World of School 1867

  • In the revealings of such light, such exceptional hour, such mood, one does not wonder at the old story fables, (indeed, why fables?) of people falling into love-sickness with trees, seiz'd extatic with the mystic realism of the resistless silent strength in them -- _strength_, which after all is perhaps the last, completest, highest beauty.

    Complete Prose Works Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy Walt Whitman 1855

  • And we must use the� strength of this women’s commission and the strength� of the United Nations to end that war, to end the war� against the civil rights of women and the human rights� of women, and our children and people everywhere.

    Remarks by Bella Abzug at the 42nd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women Jewish Women's Archive 2010

  • And we must use the� strength of this women’s commission and the strength� of the United Nations to end that war, to end the war� against the civil rights of women and the human rights� of women, and our children and people everywhere.

    Remarks by Bella Abzug at the 42nd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women Jewish Women's Archive 2010

  • Sir Wm. Jones has added to the term, strength, _his own_; this we consider to be an error, at any rate it is not a mere translation, and we have applied the term used, _viz. _ _strength_ simpliciter, differently.]

    Hindu Law and Judicature from the Dharma-Sástra of Yájnavalkya W.A [Translator] Montriou

  • Share your obscure coolness with me, and gain strength from the sharing.

    Recharging frankwu 2007

  • She draws in curly handwriting the word strength on my wrist.

    Cheer! Kate Torgovnick 2008

Comments

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  • I've always liked this word because it's the longest word in the language with just one vowel: I have this goofy image of the e in the middle as a bodybuilder lifting a massive barbell composed of the other letters.

    December 10, 2006

  • How do you know it's the longest word in English with just one vowel? I'm sure you're right.

    Love your little image.

    December 10, 2006

  • wikipedia lists "strengths" as the longest word without "e"

    December 10, 2006

  • By gum, you're right. And now the barbell is even more lopsided...

    December 11, 2006

  • See this map for American pronunciation.

    April 11, 2008

  • Can anyone actually pronounce this word with the "g" sound? It doesn't seem possible to me without twisting my vocal chords, and it doesn't sound right.

    April 14, 2008

  • I can't, of course. My pronounciation of this word is pretty close to "strand"... :-(

    April 14, 2008

  • melty

    December 3, 2011