strait

American  

[streyt] / streɪt /

noun

1. (used with a singular verb) Often straits. a narrow passage of water connecting two large bodies of water.

2. Often straits. a position of difficulty, distress, or need.

   Ill and penniless, he was in sad straits indeed.

   Synonyms:

   plight, predicament, dilemma, pinch, exigency

   Antonyms:

   ease

3. Archaic. a narrow passage or area.

4. an isthmus.

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adjective

Archaic.

1. narrow.

   Strait is the gate.

2. affording little space; confined in area.

3. strict, as in requirements or principles.

strait British  

/ streɪt /

noun

1. (often plural)

   1. a narrow channel of the sea linking two larger areas of sea

   2. ( capital as part of a name )

      the Strait of Gibraltar

2. (often plural) a position of acute difficulty (often in the phrase in dire or desperate straits )

3. archaic a narrow place or passage

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adjective

1. (of spaces, etc) affording little room

2. (of circumstances, etc) limiting or difficult

3. severe, strict, or scrupulous

strait Scientific  

/ strāt /

1. A narrow waterway joining two larger bodies of water. The Strait of Gibraltar, for example, connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean.

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Related Words

See emergency.

Other Word Forms

• straitly adverb
• straitness noun

Etymology

Origin of strait

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English streit “narrow, a strait,” from Old French estreit “narrow, tight,” from Latin strictus, past participle of stringere “to tighten, bind”; strain ¹

Example Sentences

It also has significant stockpiles of short-range missiles capable of reaching U.S. bases in the Gulf and ships in the straits of Hormuz, although estimates of those missiles vary.

From The Wall Street Journal

With U.S. warships that once patrolled the strait now deployed chasing drug boats in the Caribbean and mopping up Inuit resistance on Greenland’s coasts, Taipei quickly capitulated.

From The Wall Street Journal

I spotted a small fishing boat alone in the strait, one I recognized by now as belonging to a fisherman named Simon, who supplied langoustines to the distillery restaurant.

From The Wall Street Journal

They had worked for an NGO that rescued asylum-seekers at risk of drowning between 2015 to 2018, when hundreds of thousands of migrants crossed the narrow straits from Turkey to Greece.

From BBC

Global oil markets faced the same issue as recently as June when news reports indicated Iran’s parliament had endorsed closing the strait.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• predicament