Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To walk with long steps, especially in a hasty or vigorous way.
  • intransitive verb To take a single long step, as in passing over an obstruction.
  • intransitive verb To stand or sit astride; straddle.
  • intransitive verb To walk with long steps on, along, or over.
  • intransitive verb To step over or across.
  • intransitive verb To be astride of; straddle.
  • noun The act of striding.
  • noun A single long step.
  • noun The distance traveled in such a step.
  • noun A single coordinated movement of the four legs of a horse or other animal, completed when the legs return to their initial relative position.
  • noun The distance traveled in such a movement.
  • noun A step of progress; an advance.
  • idiom (hit (one's) stride) To achieve a steady, effective pace.
  • idiom (hit (one's) stride) To attain a maximum level of competence.
  • idiom (take in stride) To cope with calmly, without interrupting one's normal routine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To walk with long steps; step.
  • To stand with the feet far apart; straddle.
  • To pass over at a step: as, to stride a ditch.
  • To sit astride on; bestride; straddle; ride upon.
  • noun A step, especially one that is long, measured, or pompous; a wide stretch of the legs in walking.
  • noun The space measured or the ground covered by a long step, or between putting down one foot and raising the other.

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

  • transitive verb To pass over at a step; to step over.
  • transitive verb To straddle; to bestride.
  • noun The act of stridding; a long step; the space measured by a long step.
  • transitive verb To walk with long steps, especially in a measured or pompous manner.
  • transitive verb To stand with the legs wide apart; to straddle.

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

  • noun A long step.
  • noun computing The number of memory locations between successive elements in an array, pixels in a bitmap, etc.
  • verb intransitive To walk with long steps.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun significant progress (especially in the phrase
  • verb cover or traverse by taking long steps
  • verb walk with long steps
  • noun the distance covered by a step
  • noun a step in walking or running

Etymologies

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

[Middle English striden, from Old English strīdan.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English stridan ("to stride"), from Proto-Germanic *strīdanan.

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Examples

  • I suppose he means by this two things: that these great movements of our modern life are not any evidence of a permanent advance, and that our whole structure may tumble into a heap of incoherent sand, as systems of society have done before; and, again, that it is questionable if, in what we call a stride in civilization, the individual citizen is becoming any purer or more just, or if his intelligence is directed towards learning and doing what is right, or only to the means of more extended pleasures.

    Complete Essays Charles Dudley Warner 1864

  • I suppose he means by this two things: that these great movements of our modern life are not any evidence of a permanent advance, and that our whole structure may tumble into a heap of incoherent sand, as systems of society have done before; and, again, that it is questionable if, in what we call a stride in civilization, the individual citizen is becoming any purer or more just, or if his intelligence is directed towards learning and doing what is right, or only to the means of more extended pleasures.

    The Complete Project Gutenberg Writings of Charles Dudley Warner Charles Dudley Warner 1864

  • Singletary takes the kidding in stride because he acknowledged that Willis has a special blend of skills.

    San Francisco 49ers Team Report 2010

  • Joan takes the social changes of the 1960s in stride, attempting to accomodate herself to them, but Richard does so with great reluctance, sometimes out of jealousy that Joan's increased activism is taking her away from him, and frequently lashing out because of it.

    Updike, John 2010

  • I'm given to entertaining pessimistic thoughts on more than the rare occasion, so I'd always have some smart-alecky remark for him when he'd ask me, but we'd always take it in stride and laugh it off, and lo and behold I would almost always be pleasantly surprised.

    Tearing Up the Recipe Card Sarah 2009

  • Every foreign journalist, every adversary, and every ally will be reading the tea leaves to make their own assessment how badly Obama was damaged by his party's loss of political and popular support, and either take it in stride, or dangerously miscalculate.

    Amb. Marc Ginsberg: The Post Election Foreign Policy Hangover Amb. Marc Ginsberg 2010

  • The marketplace appeared to take in stride headlines which blurb lender CIT Group Inc. filed for failure protection upon Sunday after a debt-exchange suggest to bondholders failed.

    Stocks rise ahead of economic data, after Ford posts profit; CIT ... admin 2009

  • "As a starting kick returner, that's a huge opportunity to make plays, and that's my role so I just take it in stride and keep running and try to hit it hard," he said.

    Devin Thomas channels Conan and waits for his moment Barry Svrluga 2010

  • The marketplace appeared to take in stride headlines which blurb lender CIT Group Inc. filed for failure protection upon Sunday after a debt-exchange suggest to bondholders failed.

    Archive 2009-11-01 admin 2009

  • But L'Osservatore would seem to take that in stride, too.

    Homer Simpson Is Catholic, Declares Vatican Newspaper AP 2010

Comments

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  • Quirk of grammar: the verb lacks a standard past participle. Today I stride left, yesterday I strode right, so that makes twice I have . . .? Various analogical bashes can be made, of course, but you know you're making it up as you go along.

    January 9, 2009

  • Why isn't it just like ride? (ridden) OED lists it:

    Pa. tense strode (strd), pa. pple. stridden (strd()n), (colloq.) strode. Forms: 1 strídan, 3 striden, 4 strid, (3rd pers. sing. strit), 4-6 stryd(e, 5 strydyn, 4- stride. pa. tense 4-9 north. strade, 5 Sc. straid, 5, 7 strad, 6 Sc. straide, 6 stryd, 7 strid, 7-9 strided, 5- strode. pa. pple. 6 stridde, 7 strid, 9- stridden.

    January 9, 2009

  • But do you say 'stridden'? I don't. Nor do Deirdre Wilson, Geoff Pullum, and a number of other linguists. It's just not a natural part of standard Present-day English. Details at Language Log.

    January 9, 2009

  • Well, no, I don't, but to be fair, I never say "stride" either.

    Unless I'm saying "she strides stridently," which strikes me as funny.

    Why isn't it just like "ride"?

    January 9, 2009

  • The Oxford American also gives the past participle as stridden. I probably wouldn't say "stridden" (and would rarely say "stride" or "strode"), but I suppose I could imagine a context in which I would write it: "He had stridden the whole length of the field, as the angel had instructed, when he came upon a simple wooden chest on the lid of which were engraved four strange symbols, which he thought might be runes." I doubt if any reasonably educated English speaker would be flummoxed by the word "stridden" in this sentence, even if it's not commonly used in the present-day conversational language.

    January 10, 2009

  • Yep. Chidden, as pp of chide was common until fairly recently, but now seems to have fallen out of usage and so sounds slightly queer. I don't think stride lacks a standard pp, it's just rarely-used in the perfect.

    January 10, 2009

  • Well, I think that overall there just isn't anywhere near enough chiding going on these days

    January 10, 2009

  • You wouldn't have said that if you had ever been properly chidden.

    ...like how I did that? ;)

    January 10, 2009