strip

¹ American  

[strip] / strɪp /

verb (used with object)

stripped, stript, stripping

1. to deprive of covering.

   Strip the peel off that orange.

   Synonyms:

   decorticate, peel, uncover

2. to deprive of clothing; make bare or naked.

   They stripped him and gave him new clothes befitting his station.

   Synonyms:

   denude

3. to take away or remove.

   I need to strip the sheets from the bed and wash them.

4. to deprive or divest.

   The lightning stripped the tree of its bark.

   The organization will strip him of all privileges.

5. to clear out or empty.

   Thieves may strip a house of all its contents.

6. to deprive of equipment; dismantle.

   If we strip the ship of rigging, we can repair it.

   Antonyms:

   furnish, equip, supply

7. to dispossess, rob, or plunder.

   The highwaymen stripped the man of his possessions.

   Synonyms:

   despoil

8. to remove varnish, paint, wax, or the like from.

   The wood should be stripped and then refinished.

9. to separate the leaves from the stalks of (tobacco).

10. to remove the midrib, as from tobacco leaves.

11. Machinery. to break off the thread of (a screw, bolt, etc.) or the teeth of (a gear), as by applying too much force.

12. to remove the mold from (an ingot).

13. to draw the last milk from (a cow), especially by a stroking and compressing movement.

14. to draw out (milk) in this manner.

15. Photoengraving. to remove (the emulsion from a film base) in order to place it on a glass plate for exposure to the metal plate.

16. Textiles.

    1. to clean (a carding roller) by removing waste fibers.

    2. to transfer (fibers) from one carding roller to another.

    3. to remove (color) from a cloth or yarn in order to redye it another color.

    4. to remove color from (a cloth or yarn).

17. Bridge. to lead successively winning cards from (a hand) in order to dispose of as many cards as necessary preparatory to surrendering the lead to an opponent so that any card the opponent plays will be to their disadvantage.

18. Mining. to strip-mine.

19. Chemistry. to remove the most volatile components from, as by distillation or evaporation.

20. Finance. to split (a bond) for selling separately as a principal certificate and as interest coupons.

21. Surgery. to remove (a vein) by pulling it inside out through a small incision, using a long, hooked instrument.

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verb (used without object)

stripped, stript, stripping

1. to strip something.

   They do not contain harsh detergents, such as sulfates, that can irritate, strip or dehydrate.

   When dealing with furniture stain, I always strip as gently as possible.

2. to remove one's clothes.

3. to perform a striptease.

4. to become stripped.

   Bananas strip easily.

noun

1. a striptease.

strip ² American  

[strip] / strɪp /

noun

1. a narrow piece, comparatively long and usually of uniform width.

   a strip of cloth, metal, land, etc.

2. a continuous series of drawings or pictures illustrating incidents, conversation, etc., as a comic strip.

3. Aeronautics.

   1. an airstrip; runway.

   2. landing strip.

4. Philately. three or more stamps joined either in a horizontal or vertical row.

5. Informal. striplight.

6. (sometimes initial capital letter) a road, street, or avenue, usually in a city or a main thoroughfare between outlying suburbs, densely lined on both sides by a large variety of retail stores, gas stations, restaurants, bars, etc..

   Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.

7. strip steak.

8. drag strip.

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verb (used with object)

stripped, stripping

1. to cut, tear, or form into strips.

2. Printing. to combine (a piece of film) with another, especially for making a combination plate of lines and halftones.

3. to broadcast (a television series) in multiple related segments, as daily from Monday through Friday.

strip ¹ British  

/ strɪp /

verb

1. to take or pull (the covering, clothes, etc) off (oneself, another person, or thing)

   to strip a wall

   to strip a bed

2. (intr)

   1. to remove all one's clothes

   2. to perform a striptease

3. (tr) to denude or empty completely

4. (tr) to deprive

   he was stripped of his pride

5. (tr) to rob or plunder

6. (tr) to remove (paint, varnish, etc) from (a surface, furniture, etc) by sanding, with a solvent, etc

   stripped pine

7. Also: pluck.  (tr) to pull out the old coat of hair from (dogs of certain long- and wire-haired breeds)

8. 1. to remove the leaves from the stalks of (tobacco, etc)

   2. to separate the two sides of a leaf from the stem of (tobacco, etc)

9. (tr) agriculture to draw the last milk from each of the teats of (a cow)

10. to dismantle (an engine, mechanism, etc)

11. to tear off or break (the thread) from (a screw, bolt, etc) or (the teeth) from (a gear)

12. (often foll by down) to remove the accessories from (a motor vehicle)

    his car was stripped down

13. to remove (the most volatile constituent) from (a mixture of liquids) by boiling, evaporation, or distillation

14. printing (usually foll by in) to combine (pieces of film or paper) to form a composite sheet from which a plate can be made

15. (tr) (in freight transport) to unpack (a container) See also stuffing and stripping

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noun

1. the act or an instance of undressing or of performing a striptease

strip ² British  

/ strɪp /

noun

1. a relatively long, flat, narrow piece of something

2. short for airstrip

3. philately a horizontal or vertical row of three or more unseparated postage stamps

4. the clothes worn by the members of a team, esp a football team

5. commerce a triple option on a security or commodity consisting of one call option and two put options at the same price and for the same period Compare strap

6. short for dosing strip

7. informal to rebuke (someone) angrily

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verb

1. to cut or divide into strips

Synonym Usage

Strip, deprive, dispossess, divest imply more or less forcibly taking something away from someone. To strip is to take something completely (often violently) from a person or thing so as to leave in a destitute or powerless state: to strip a man of all his property; to strip the bark from a tree. To deprive is to take away forcibly or coercively what one has, or to withhold what one might have: to deprive workers of their livelihood. To dispossess is to deprive of the holding or use of something: to dispossess the renters of a house. Divest usually means depriving of rights, privileges, powers, or the like: to divest a king of authority.

Etymology

Origin of strip¹

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English verb strepe(n), streppin, strippe, unattested Old English -strī(e)pan, -strȳpan, -strēpan (compare Old English bestrȳpan “to rob, plunder,” Middle High German strupfen “to strip off”)

Origin of strip²

First recorded in 1425–75; variant of late Middle English stripe, cognate with or borrowed from Middle Low German strippe “strap, thong”; see stripe ¹

Explanation

The verb strip has many shades of meaning, but most of them involve removing something. Someone may strip you of your power or you may strip off your clothes. Whatever it is that you strip, it’s gone. When you strip something, you leave it bare. Strip can refer to removing a covering — like your clothes or like when you strip your sheets from your bed. Robbers may strip your car of all valuable items. And you might need to strip off a coat of paint before you start painting the front door. When used as a noun, strip could be something in a long, narrow shape — like an airstrip or a strip of material.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

strip stripped stripping stript

The shop of the first song’s title is a place in a strip mall where he recently picked up his air conditioner and television.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

The beetles strip plants of their leaves, leaving combustible woody stems, he said.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

After the dozens of well-heeled guests in attendance tucked into New York strip steaks and carrot cake, Kielpinski called on them to open their wallets and donate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

If you have a trusted artificial-intelligence program, you could strip your statements of any personally identifiable information and drop them into the program.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026

The camp, set up on a narrow strip of beach that ran beneath Gelidonya’s high cliffs, was sweltering hot and primitive, to say the least.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler

It also expects underlying profit growth of 5% when currency swings are stripped out.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

"The disinflation ducks are starting to line up, and with oil also backing off, the market has steadily stripped away the case for another near-term Fed hike."

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

Her bank accounts were stripped bare by Medicaid during her illness.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026

Her novel “Blonde” also stripped the agency from love goddess Marilyn Monroe and its own 2022 movie adaptation launched a thousand hot takes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

I never in my life stripped a garden so fast, and my feet raced each other past the depot and the Cold Sassy tree and the nine houses between Grandpa’s house and ours.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

Portland, Ore.: By preventing the stripping of fasteners, Henry Phillips’s design enabled the use of high-speed power tools essential for World War II-era assembly lines.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has issued a warning that stripping private enforcement is on the table for this court.

From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026

However, analysts worry that stripping Zelensky of the order may lead to a major diplomatic rupture that can have serious repercussions for both countries.

From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026

Energy prices are the main culprit, but even when stripping those out along with food costs, core CPI is expected to increase 2.9%.

From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026

The soldiers’ job was to reinstate the country’s democratically elected government, in the process stripping power from the junta—a government composed of military leaders—whose corrupt and cruel reign had gone on for three years.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

All in like efforts join'd: “And quickly Othrys of his woods was stript: “Nor Pelion shade retain'd.

From The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II by J. J. Howard

And a long time afterwards the following event took place:—Palladius, having been dismissed from the military service, and stript of all that nourished his pride, retired into private life.

From The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus During the Reigns of the Emperors Constantius, Julian, Jovianus, Valentinian, and Valens by Charles Duke Yonge

Feathertop, likewise, had looked towards the mirror, and there beheld, not the glittering mockery of his outside show, but a picture of the sordid patchwork of his real composition, stript of all witchcraft.

From The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852 by Various

So proudly boasting, to submit I scorn'd; “But stript my sea-green robe, my arms oppos'd, “And held my firm-clench'd hands before my breast; “For stout resistance every limb prepar'd, “To meet the fight.

From The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II by J. J. Howard

Ten to one but behind some bush, or under some hedge, we may find the Lady Madam Dulcinea, stript of her enchanted rags, and as fine as a queen.

From The History of Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Related Words

• band
• bar
• belt
• bit
• fillet
• layer
• ribbon
• rod
• section
• segment
• slab
• stripe
• tape