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

Behind every roof beam is recessed LED lighting, with individual lighting control for every strand.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

Learning to cook, it transpires, was the second strand of her plan to reclaim some normality after the whirlwind of her early 20s.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

They lean in for a single strand of pasta — and accidentally kiss.

From Salon • Feb. 14, 2026

Any irregular signal was thought to mean the strand had knotted as it moved through the pore.

From Science Daily • Feb. 9, 2026

We had a capital “severe tea” at Robin Hood’s Bay in a sweet little old-fashioned inn, with a bow-window right over the seaweed-covered rocks of the strand.

From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker

Related Words

• fiber
• filament
• rope
• string