strafe
Americanverb (used with object)
-
strafes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
strafed,
past participle, past
-
strafing
present participle
-
to attack (ground troops or installations) by airplanes with machine-gun fire.
-
Slang. to reprimand viciously.
verb (used without object)
-
strafes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
strafed,
past participle, past
-
strafing
present participle
noun
verb
-
to machine-gun (troops, etc) from the air
-
slang to punish harshly
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
strafesimple
-
strafessimple
-
have strafedperfect
-
has strafedperfect
-
am strafingprogressive
-
are strafingprogressive
-
is strafingprogressive
-
have been strafingperfect progressive
-
has been strafingperfect progressive
Past
-
strafedsimple
-
had strafedperfect
-
was strafingprogressive
-
were strafingprogressive
-
had been strafingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of strafe
First recorded in 1910–15; from German strafen “to punish”
Explanation
To strafe is to attack from above with bullets or bombs. During World War I, planes fitted with machine guns flew low so they could strafe targets below. Think of a quick-firing machine gun or rapid series of bombs to understand the military verb strafe. This technique made it possible to mount deadly attacks on the enemy, provided that planes could fly at very low altitudes. Technology improvements by World War II meant that pilots of these planes were better protected in cockpits. The word strafe comes from a German catchphrase used during World War I, Gott strafe England, "may God punish England."
Vocabulary lists containing strafe
Unbroken
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
This Week In Culture: September 28–October 4, 2019
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Most Dangerous
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
One researcher has been hiring planes to strafe the sky over the Amazon rain forest to collect the air coming off the trees, and what she is finding is cause for alarm.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 22, 2023
The storms dip over the warm subtropics “and create a conveyor belt of of moisture to strafe the West Coast of the U.S,” Maue said.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 4, 2023
Team Alive’s greatest moment of jeopardy may have come early, as Jon Snow considered using Rhaegal to strafe a line of mounted White Walkers.
From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2019
Any wisdom revealed by the passage of time and the contextualizing of history can strafe like glass shards, tiny bites from crystal teeth that make a person flinch.
From Salon ● Nov. 15, 2018
When he turned back to strafe it would be another matter.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
As a fierce windstorm strafes the gorge and we scatter to batten down our tents, I catch a glimpse of a lion, a Nordic queen and Pippi Longstocking calmly cooking us dinner.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 7, 2022
A raucous, audacious comedy by Qui Nguyen, directed by May Adrales and featuring an excellent cast, that strafes just about every subject it tackles and every character it presents.
From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2016
The Israeli grandmaster plays the positional side of a Benko Gambit to perfection, building up great pressure on the a- and b-files while the great Benko bishop strafes the White position from g7.
From Washington Times ● May 12, 2015
Mr. O’Malley is a tone obsessive: he gets a warm, rounded, tube-technology sound in his noise and drone, and for an hour he carefully interacted with Mr. Rehberg’s shifting and corroding electronic strafes.
From New York Times ● May 3, 2013
To-morrow, if the Major strafes me for my handling of the platoon on the barrack-square, I'll challenge him to detail 'presenting arms, by numbers.'
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, May 21, 1919 by Various
Aladdin Sane, with his face strafed by a scarlet firebolt edged in blue, blue, electric blue, is quintessential Bowie iconography.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2026
In the South, national monuments burned and strafed during the Korean War were rebuilt with precision and fidelity as symbols of national pride.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2023
Already this postseason, the Padres had bashed Max Scherzer, knocked out Chris Bassitt and strafed Jacob deGrom and Clayton Kershaw.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 18, 2022
Paramount Pictures was strafed three years ago for scrapping the flag, fueling speculation that the change was made to appease the Chinese internet company Tencent Holdings, one of the film’s financial partners.
From Washington Times ● May 31, 2022
Birdsong strafed and morsed from the oak on the village green.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Hemsley and his fellow insurance CEOs also recently faced down testy members of Congress in two House hearings, taking a critical strafing from lawmakers of both parties.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
The rain blew harder, strafing the windows, and as brother and sister talked, at times teasing one another, they suggested they were learning that life comes in increments of loss and renewal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 9, 2025
He would often try to drive me away, come strafing and threatening, and an alarming thing about that is their flight is completely silent.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2023
In one of this book’s later interviews, with a Seventh-day Adventist magazine, Gregory advocates a raw food diet and does a strafing run over soul food.
From New York Times ● Nov. 14, 2022
There was going to be air cover—dive- bombers and Hellcats on strafing runs, and B-24s from out of the Ellice Islands, right up to the point of attack.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
