strength
Pronunciation
  • (RP, GA) IPA: /stɹɛŋkθ/, [st̠͡ɹ̠ɛŋkθ], [st̠͡ɹ̠ɛn̪θ]
    • (pin-pen) IPA: [st̠͡ɹ̠ɪŋkθ]
Noun

strength

  1. The quality or degree of being strong.
    It requires great strength to lift heavy objects.
    • circa 1605 William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5,
      Our castle’s strength will laugh a siege to scorn.
    Antonyms: weakness
  2. The intensity of a force or power; potency.
    He had the strength of ten men.
    • 1699, Sir William Temple, 1st Baronet, Heads designed for an essay on conversations ↗
      Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
  3. The strongest part of something; that on which confidence or reliance is based.
    • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalms 46.1,
      God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
    • 1649, Jeremy Taylor, The Great Examplar of Sanctity and Holy Life according to the Christian Institution, London: Francis Ash, Part 1, Section 4, Discourse 2, p. 66,
      […] certainly there is not in the world a greater strength against temptations, then is deposited in an obedient understanding […] .
  4. A positive attribute.
    We all have our own strengths and weaknesses.
    Antonyms: weakness
  5. (obsolete) An armed force, a body of troops.
    • circa 1591 William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act IV, Scene 3,
      Thou princely leader of our English strength,
      Never so needful on the earth of France,
    • circa 1596 William Shakespeare, King John (play), Act II, Scene 1,
      That done, dissever your united strengths,
      And part your mingled colours once again;
  6. (obsolete) A strong place; a stronghold.
    • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 7, lines 140-143,[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost_(1674)/Book_VII]
      All like himself rebellious, by whose aid
      This inaccessible high strength, the seat
      Of Deitie supream, us dispossest,
      He trusted to have seis’d […]
Synonyms

Related terms

Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

strength (strengths, present participle strengthing; past and past participle strengthed)

  1. (obsolete) To give strength to; to strengthen. [12th-17th c.] attention enattention enm
    • 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Job IV:
      Lo! thou hast tauȝt ful many men, and thou hast strengthid hondis maad feynt.
Synonyms


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