strength
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English strengthe, from Old English strengþu (“strength”), from Proto-Germanic *strangiþō (“strongness; strength”), equivalent to strong + -th. Cognate with Dutch strengte (“strength”), German Low German Strengde, Strengte (“harshness; rigidity; strictness; severity”). Written strenght in the 1534 Tyndale English translation of the Bible.
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /stɹɛŋkθ/, [st̠͡ɹ̠ɛŋkθ], [st̠͡ɹ̠ɛn̪θ]
- (pin–pen merger) IPA(key): [st̠͡ɹ̠ɪŋkθ]
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛŋθ, -ɛnθ
NounEdit
strength (countable and uncountable, plural strengths)
- The quality or degree of being strong.
- It requires great strength to lift heavy objects.
- c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5,[1]
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.
- Antonym: weakness
- The intensity of a force or power; potency.
- He had the strength of ten men.
- 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations
- Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
- The strongest part of something; that on which confidence or reliance is based.
- 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalm 46.1,[2]
- God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
- 1649, Jeremy Taylor, The Great Examplar of Sanctity and Holy Life according to the Christian Institution, London: Francis Ash, Part 1, Section 4, Discourse 2, p. 66,[3]
- […] certainly there is not in the world a greater strength against temptations, then is deposited in an obedient understanding […] .
- 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalm 46.1,[2]
- A positive attribute.
- We all have our own strengths and weaknesses.
- Antonym: weakness
- (obsolete) Armed force, body of troops.
- c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act IV, Scene 3,[4]
- Thou princely leader of our English strength,
- Never so needful on the earth of France,
- c. 1596, William Shakespeare, King John, Act II, Scene 1,[5]
- That done, dissever your united strengths,
- And part your mingled colours once again;
- c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act IV, Scene 3,[4]
- (obsolete) A strong place; a stronghold.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
- 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 7, lines 140-143,[6]
- All like himself rebellious, by whose aid
- This inaccessible high strength, the seat
- Of Deitie supream, us dispossest,
- He trusted to have seis’d […]
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
- bond strength
- compressive strength
- crushing strength
- dielectic strength
- fatigue strength
- field strength
- full-strength
- impact strength
- industrial-strength
- inner strength
- ionic strength
- party strength
- pillar of strength
- relative strength
- shear strength
- signal strength
- strengthen
- strengthening
- strengthful
- strengthless
- strengthy
- superstrength
- tensile strength
- tower of strength
- ultimate strength
- understrength
- wet strength
- yield strength
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
strength — see potency
quality of being strong
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intensity of a force or power
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strongest part of something
positive attribute
VerbEdit
strength (third-person singular simple present strengths, present participle strengthing, simple past and past participle strengthed)
- (obsolete) To give strength to; to strengthen. [12th-17th c.]
- 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Job IV:
- Lo! thou hast tauȝt ful many men, and thou hast strengthid hondis maad feynt.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)
- 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Job IV:
SynonymsEdit
- See also Thesaurus:strengthen