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• strand
  strand

  verb (used with object)

  to drive or leave (a ship, fish, etc.) aground or ashore.
• Strand
  Strand

  noun

  Mark, 1934–2014, U.S. poet, born in Canada: U.S. poet laureate 1990–91.

strand

¹ American  

[strand] / strænd /

verb (used with object)

1. to drive or leave (a ship, fish, etc.) aground or ashore.

   The receding tide stranded the whale.

2. (usually used in the passive) to bring into or leave in a helpless position.

   He was stranded in the middle of nowhere.

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verb (used without object)

1. to be driven or left ashore; run aground.

2. to be halted or struck by a difficult situation.

   He stranded in the middle of his speech.

noun

1. the land bordering the sea, a lake, or a river; shore; beach.

strand ² American  

[strand] / strænd /

noun

1. one of a number of fibers, threads, or yarns that are plaited or twisted together to form a rope, cord, or the like.

2. a similar part of a wire rope.

3. a rope made of such twisted or plaited fibers.

4. a fiber or filament, as in animal or plant tissue.

   a single strand of messenger RNA.

5. a thread or threadlike part of anything.

   the strands of a plot.

6. a tress of hair.

7. a string of pearls, beads, etc.

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verb (used with object)

1. to form (a rope, cable, etc.) by twisting strands together.

2. to break one or more strands of (a rope).

Strand ³ American  

[strand] / strænd /

noun

1. Mark, 1934–2014, U.S. poet, born in Canada: U.S. poet laureate 1990–91.

2. Paul, 1890–1976, U.S. photographer and documentary-film producer.

3. the, a street parallel to the Thames, in W central London, England: famous for hotels and theaters.

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strand ¹ British  

/ strænd /

noun

1. a set of or one of the individual fibres or threads of string, wire, etc, that form a rope, cable, etc

2. a single length of string, hair, wool, wire, etc

3. a string of pearls or beads

4. a constituent element in a complex whole

   one strand of her argument

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verb

1. (tr) to form (a rope, cable, etc) by winding strands together

strand ² British  

/ strænd /

verb

1. to leave or drive (ships, fish, etc) aground or ashore or (of ships, fish, etc) to be left or driven ashore

2. (tr; usually passive) to leave helpless, as without transport or money, etc

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noun

1. a shore or beach

2. a foreign country

Strand ³ British  

/ strænd /

noun

1. a street in W central London, parallel to the Thames: famous for its hotels and theatres

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Other Word Forms

• strandless
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of strand¹

First before 1000; Middle English noun strond(e), strand(e), Old English strand; cognate with Dutch strand, German Strand, Old Norse strǫnd; akin to strew

Origin of strand²

First recorded in 1490–1500; origin uncertain

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Explanation

A single hair, a noodle, even a line of thought — any of these things could be called a strand, a long thin length of something. The noun strand describes things that are long and thin like a rope, or a strand of spaghetti, hair, or thread. Strands are often twisted together to form thicker, stronger things like cables. As a verb, the meaning is very different: "to leave helpless," like unreliable cars that strand their drivers, or a snowstorm that strands people at airports.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

strand Strand

In 2016, a boy was diagnosed with a strand of plague after handling a marmot in Russia’s Altai region.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Using those mutations, which are also called neoantigens, the researchers make an mRNA strand that is unique to the patient.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026

Researchers heat the material and draw it into an extremely thin fiber, somewhat like producing a very fine strand of sugar, but with far greater precision.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026

The case is also high-profile because of another highly sensitive strand of the investigation, which is still ongoing.

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

He shouted as he pounded across the strand toward us, the sand spewing up in great circles.

From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff

Harman said around 300 students were expected to march through central London, from King's College London in the Strand on Wednesday, finishing at University College London in Holborn.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

Ethan is certainly making a name for himself and his success isn't any surprise to his fellow members at Strand Chess Club.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Known as 180 the Strand, the site was acquired in 2012 by Mark Wadhwa, a longtime partner of Jones’s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

The St. Clement, which has 90 rooms and 15 suites in addition to the penthouse, occupies the Thames-facing part of a nine-story brutalist building erected on the Strand in the 1970s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

We go to the park to eat the churros so we don’t get powder and crumbs all over the books at the Strand.

From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

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Related Words

• fiber
• filament
• rope
• string

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