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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

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

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

Direct measurements of DNA strand breaks supported those findings.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026

The machines use focused beams of ultraviolet light to etch on wafers of silicon billions of transistors roughly the width of a strand of DNA.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

At the summit, the discipline that got you up the mountain is the very thing that can strand you on it.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026

The script is by David Koepp of the paranoid thriller “Black Bag” and Spielberg’s 2005 version of “War of the Worlds,” yet, this plot strand about private enterprise isn’t science fiction.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026

He widens his stance, brings his face closer to mine, tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Heisenberg: Strand Larsen is a decent centre forward, but, if we assume Mateta is first choice then the Norwegian will find gametime hard to come by.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Then we would probably go for a bike ride along the Strand.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

With Haaland, who had scored four goals in the previous two group games, sat on the bench, his deputy Jorgen Strand Larsen missed a penalty that would have made it 3-2 after half-time.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026

Simpson’s in the Strand, a luxuriously upholstered eatery in the center of London, came up with its own version.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026

They walked several blocks, past the used book carts outside the Strand bookstore and at least two cafés Molly swore had not been there the last time she had walked this way.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

Related Words

• fiber
• filament
• rope
• string