strafe
Americanverb (used with object)
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to attack (ground troops or installations) by airplanes with machine-gun fire.
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Slang. to reprimand viciously.
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
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to machine-gun (troops, etc) from the air
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slang to punish harshly
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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strafesimple
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strafessimple
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have strafedperfect
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has strafedperfect
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am strafingprogressive
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are strafingprogressive
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is strafingprogressive
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have been strafingperfect progressive
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has been strafingperfect progressive
Past
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strafedsimple
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had strafedperfect
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was strafingprogressive
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were strafingprogressive
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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
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This Week In Culture: September 28–October 4, 2019
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Most Dangerous
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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
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a minister strafe her own government like this,” said Andrew MacDougall, who was the spokesman for Stephen Harper, the Conservative prime minister Mr. Trudeau replaced in 2015.
From New York Times ● Feb. 28, 2019
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
Arthur Gilligan, who was in the same battalion as Mackinnon, told me he was absolutely without fear, and was continually working up little "strafes" of the Boches on his own.
From War Letters of a Public-School Boy by Jones, Henry Paul Mainwaring
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
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
The table glittered and flared as sunlight strafed it through the kitchen windows.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2019
Ivanito called to her from the bus window with eyes that strafed her with grief.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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
Watching Lyonne’s heroine tap dance away from strafing fire gets old pretty fast, but at least Johnson and his writers realize that.
From Salon ● May 8, 2025
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
To this day, Japanese commemorate the strafing of an elementary school in eastern Tokyo during the Doolittle raid, where a 13-year-old boy was killed.
From New York Times ● Jul. 28, 2020
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.
