tensile strength

See synonyms for tensile strength on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the resistance of a material to longitudinal stress, measured by the minimum amount of longitudinal stress required to rupture the material.

Origin of tensile strength

1
First recorded in 1860–65

Words Nearby tensile strength

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use tensile strength in a sentence

  • In the first place, it gives the steel a greater tensile strength.

    United States Steel | Arundel Cotter
  • Nickel is about ten per cent heavier than steel, and has a tensile strength of 90,000 pounds per square inch.

British Dictionary definitions for tensile strength

tensile strength

noun
  1. a measure of the ability of a material to withstand a longitudinal stress, expressed as the greatest stress that the material can stand without breaking

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for tensile strength

tensile strength

[ tĕnsəl, tĕnsīl′ ]


  1. A measure of the ability of material to resist a force that tends to pull it apart. It is expressed as the minimum tensile stress (force per unit area) needed to split the material apart.

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