strong
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: strŏng
ipa: /stɹɒŋ/
ipa: [st̠͡ɹ̠ɒŋ]
ipa: [ʃt̠͡ɹ̠ɒŋ]
ipa: /stɹæŋ/
enpr: strông
ipa: /stɹɔŋ/
ipa: [st̠͡ɹ̠ɔŋ]
ipa: [ʃt̠͡ɹ̠ɔŋ]
ipa: [ʃt͡ʃɹɔŋ]
enpr: strŏng
ipa: /stɹɑŋ/
ipa: [st̠͡ɹ̠ɑŋ]
ipa: [ʃt̠͡ɹ̠ɑŋ]
rhymes: -ɒŋ
Forms: form: stronger
form: strongest
form: strang
form: stronk
Etymology: From Middle English strong, strang, from Old English strang, from Proto-West Germanic *strang, from Proto-Germanic *strangaz (“tight, strict, straight, strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“taut, stiff, tight”). Cognate with Scots strang (“strong”), Saterland Frisian strang, West Frisian string (“austere, strict, harsh, severe, stern, stark, tough”), Dutch streng (“strict, severe, tight”), German streng (“strict, severe, austere”), Swedish sträng, strang (“severe, strict, harsh”), Norwegian strang (“strong, harsh, bitter”), Norwegian streng (“strong, hard”), Icelandic strangur (“strict”), Latin stringō (“tighten”).
Senses: examples: text: a big strong man; Jake was tall and strong
text: The man was nearly drowned after a strong undercurrent swept him out to sea.
text: For he was swift as swallow in her flight,
And strong as Lyon in his lordly might.
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
text: But what sight is that? It seems a town right in the river, each building standing upon its own foundation, with the deep, strong current of the river sweeping all around it? They are flouring mills operated by the natural current of the stream.
ref: 1853 April 23, Warren Isham, “Notes from Hungary”, in Warren Isham, editor, The Michigan Farmer, volume XI, number 4:
synonyms: forceful
powerful
antonyms: weak
forceless
glosses: Capable of producing great physical force.
examples: text: a strong foundation; good strong shoes
text: Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker.
ref: 1889, Friedrich Nietzsche, “Sprüche und Pfeile [Maxims and Arrows]”, in Götzen-Dämmerung, oder, Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophiert [Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer]:
english: What does not kill me, makes me stronger.
translation: What does not kill me, makes me stronger.
bold_translation_offsets: 32
40
synonyms: durable
sturdy
tough
antonyms: fragile
glosses: Capable of withstanding great physical force.
examples: text: A wise man is strong, yea a man of knowledge encreaseth strength.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 24:5:
text: Perhaps we grows very strong, stronger than Wraiths. Lord Smeagol? Gollum the Great? The Gollum! Eat fish every day, three times a day, fresh from the sea.
ref: 1954, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “The Passage of the Marshes”, in The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings; 2), HarperCollinsPublishers, published 2001, page 619:
text: Outgassing of oxygen is strongest when primary production rates are greatest; ingassing is at a maximum during net respiration.
ref: 2010, Heinrich D Holland, Karl K. Turekian, Isotope Geochemistry:
glosses: Possessing power, might, or strength.
examples: text: The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: Ideas are eternal; they hang in the stars, and a man must be brave and strong enough to reach up to the stars and fetch down the fire from heaven and to carry the torch among men.
ref: 1934 March 23, Hermann Göring, Germany Reborn, page 47:
text: It noted China was especially strong in the fast-growing area of “deep learning.”
ref: 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2019:
text: He is strong in the face of adversity.
synonyms: ardent
zealous
swith
glosses: Determined; unyielding.
examples: text: a strong light; a strong taste
synonyms: extreme
intense
glosses: Highly stimulating to the senses.
examples: text: a strong smell
synonyms: rank
glosses: Having an offensive or intense odor or flavor.
examples: text: a strong cup of coffee; a strong medicine
synonyms: concentrated
potent
antonyms: weak
diluted
impotent
glosses: Having a high concentration of an essential or active ingredient.
examples: text: a strong drink
text: She gets up, and pours herself a strong one. - Eagles, Lying Eyes
synonyms: hard
glosses: Having a high alcoholic content.
examples: text: a strong verb
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
antonyms: weak
glosses: Inflecting in a different manner than the one called weak, such as Germanic verbs which change vowels.
examples: text: a strong acid; a strong base
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
antonyms: weak
glosses: That completely ionizes into anions and cations in a solution.
examples: text: a strong position
topics: government
military
politics
war
synonyms: impregnable
inviolable
secure
unassailable
unattackable
antonyms: weak
glosses: Not easily subdued or taken.
examples: text: a strong economy
glosses: Having wealth or resources.
examples: text: You're working with troubled youth in your off time? That’s strong!
glosses: Impressive, good.
examples: text: The enemy's army force was five thousand strong.
text: Our armie will be forty thouſand ſtrong,
When Tamburlain and braue Theridamas
Haue met vs by the riuer Araris:
And all conioin’d to meete the witleſſe King,
That now is marching neere to Parthia.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene i:
glosses: Having a specified number of people or units.
examples: text: Physicians may diagnosis influenza by a throat culture or blood test, which may be important if you have a particularly strong flu, if your doctor suspects pneumonia or a bacterial infection.
ref: 2005, Andrew Gaeddert, Healing Immune Disorders: Natural Defense-Building Solutions, North Atlantic Books, page 221:
glosses: Severe; very bad or intense.
raw_tags: of a disease or symptom
topics: human-sciences
logic
mathematics
philosophy
sciences
glosses: Having a wide range of logical consequences; widely applicable. (Often contrasted with a weak statement which it implies.)
examples: text: […] but grounding him ſelfe vpon ſtrong reaſons, to wit, that he had not offended the Iewes, neither yet the Law, but that he was innocēt, and therefore that no iudge oght to geue hym in the hādes of his ennemies […]
ref: 1558, John Knox, The Appellation of Iohn Knoxe from the cruell and moſt iniuſt ſentence pronounced againſt him by the falſe biſhoppes and clergie of Scotland, page 11v:
glosses: Convincing.
raw_tags: of an argument
Hyponyms: ultrastrong
Derived terms: a chain is only as strong as its weakest link
antistrong
by the strong hand
come it strong
come on strong
electrostrong
English strong ale
go strong
headstrong
nonstrong
overstrong
semistrong
stroft
strong AI
strong-arm
strong-armer
strong artificial intelligence
strong as a bull
strong as a horse
strong as death
strong atheist
strongback
strongbox
strong breeze
strong copyleft
strong declension
strong drink
strong enough to trot a mouse on
strong equivalence principle
strong flour
strong force
strongful
strong gale
stronghand
strong hand at the tiller
strong-handed
strong hand on the tiller
strongheaded
strong-hearted
stronghearted
stronghold
strong interaction
strongish
strong language
strongling
stronglink
strong localization
strongman
strong man
strong-minded
strongness
strong nuclear
strong nuclear force
strong nuclear interaction
strong point
strongpoint
strong reference
strong room
strong silent type
strong suit
strong typing
strong water
strong-willed
strongwoman
superstrong
the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must
unstrong
Related terms: strength