I. ˈstrȯŋ also ˈsträŋ adjective
( stron·ger -ŋgə(r) ; stron·gest -ŋgə̇st)
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English strang; akin to Old High German strango strongly, strengi strong, brave, hard, Old Norse strangr strong, severe, Latin stringere to bind tight, press together — more at strain
1.
a. : having great muscular power : capable of exerting great bodily force
strong as a bull
b. : accomplished or supported by marked physical power
rows with a strong stroke
strong kick
strong thrust with a spear
2.
a. : able to bear or endure : robust , rugged
strong runner
strong health
b. : able to withstand stress or violence : not easily broken or injured
strong furniture
c. : tending to higher prices — sometimes distinguished from firm
a strong market
3. : having or exhibiting moral or intellectual force, endurance, or vigor
mistook an opinionated mind for a strong one — C.H.Sykes
strong ruler
strong president
4.
a. : having great resources of wealth
strong bank
strong national economy
or of talent
strong cast of actors
among the stronger teams in the baseball league
b. : being of a specified effective number — used postpositively
army 10 thousand strong
each choir was over 150 strong — Warwick Braithwaite
5.
a. : striking or superior of its kind : capable of making a clear or deep impression especially on the mind or imagination
bears a strong resemblance to his father
strong picture
b. : effective or efficient especially in a particular direction : able to accomplish a result
if you are strong on logic — W.J.Reilly
c. : massive , important
strong vein of coal
d. : full 3e(1)
e. of printing type or a slug : cast slightly over point size
6.
a. : having a particular quality in a great degree : intense in degree : concentrated
strong salt solution
strong coffee
strong dislike
strong light
strong feelings of the farmers about foreign competition — Roy Lewis & Angus Maude
b. : extreme , uncompromising
strong views on raising children
denounced in the strongest terms
c. of a color : high in chroma
d. : containing a large proportion of alcohol
strong beer
e. : having a high degree of ionization in solution — used of an acid or a base
hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid are strong acids
— compare weak 11
f. of tobacco : having a high nicotine content or otherwise strongly flavored
perique is a strong tobacco
g. : having great refractive or magnifying power
strong lens
uses strong eyeglasses
7. obsolete : gross , flagrant , notorious
heinous, strong , and bold conspiracy — Shakespeare
8. : urgent , compelling
strong grounds for believing him guilty
strong desire for recognition
9. : ardent , zealous
the whole family are strong Republicans
strong believer in astrology
10. : moving with force or rapidity
strong tide
strong wind
strong pulse
11.
a. obsolete : difficult , hard
b. : relatively hard to digest : solid
strong foods
12.
a. : not easily captured or subdued
strong fortress
strong military position
b. : well established : firmly fixed : not easily altered or eradicated
strong prejudice
strong belief
strong custom
c. : not easily upset or nauseated
strong stomach
strong head for hard liquor
13. : having an offensive or too intense odor or flavor
strong cheese
strong breath
14. of soil : productive , fertile
15. of flour or wheat : containing a high percentage of gluten : cohesive and tenacious and producing bread of good texture and form
16.
a. of a verb : forming its past tense by a change in the root vowel and its past participle usually by the addition of -en with or without change of the root vowel (as strive, strove, striven; break, broke, broken; drink, drank, drunk ) — opposed to weak ; compare irregular
b. of a noun or adjective declension : retaining the old declensional endings characteristic of the vowel stems in Proto-Germanic — opposed to weak
17.
a. : bearing a degree of stress greater than the minimal degree occurring in the language
strong stress
strong syllable
strong ending of a line of verse
b. : emphatic — used of forms of chiefly monosyllabic words (as pronouns, auxiliaries) that have minimal stress in some contexts
am is a strong form in “I'm not going today but I am going tomorrow”
Modern English off descends historically from the old strong form of of
18. chiefly Australia
a. of wool : broad-haired or coarse-fibered
b. of sheep : having such wool : strong-woolled
Synonyms:
stout , sturdy , stalwart , tough , tenacious : strong is a general term indicating marked physical power, great size or number, soundness for withstanding strain, or marked force, vigor, or intensity
a strong constitution
a strong army
a strong brace
strong liquor
a strong color
stout suggests power to resist or endure; of things it is applicable to a texture or construction resisting strain, and of persons to an ability to resist with undaunted resolution
mooring the ship with stout ropes
stout fences for keeping the cattle in
the stout defenders of the fortress
and let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons — F.D.Roosevelt
sturdy applies to what is marked by staying power or resistance arising from firm resolution, rugged or vigorous growth, or solid construction
it was easy in this country to idealize the farmers as the sturdy yeomanry who embodied all the virtues associated with the original Anglo-Saxon love of liberty — John Dewey
a kick delivered with all the strength of the blacksmith's sturdy leg sent him sprawling on all fours — C.B.Nordhoff & J.N.Hall
stalwart may suggest a firm, strong dependability, often accompanied by notable mental or physical strength
it is a hard life: those that survive are stalwart, rugged men, literally mighty men of valour who neither know nor desire comforts — L.D.Stamp
a stalwart Federalist, he was a good hater of all Jacobins — V.L.Parrington
tough may suggest resistant, vigorous hardiness able to withstand hard strain and enervation
a tough and durable material
the toughest old salts imaginable — not pretty to look at, but fellows, by their faces, of the most indomitable spirit — R.L.Stevenson
a tough ruthless power bent on dominating the world and suppressing our freedom — Vannevar Bush
tenacious implies a stubborn or resolute holding on, retaining, maintaining, or adhering despite forces that would discourage, weaken, dislodge, or thwart
her power of recuperation was wonderful. There was something tenacious about that lily-frail body of hers, a clutch on existence which one could not reconcile with its patent weakness — Jack London
stubborn, willful, tenacious, undiscouraged by adversity — T.H.Fielding
•
- strong for
II. adverb
Etymology: Middle English stronge, strong, from Old English strange, from strang strong (adjective)
: strongly
had the love of adventure strong in their Irish blood — Irish Digest
still going strong after 40 years of hard work
reversible … topcoat … is coming back strong — New Yorker
wind blowing strong from the West
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: strong (I)
: forte 2