strait

English

Etymology

From Middle English streit, from Anglo-Norman estreit, Old French estreit (modern form étroit), from Latin strictus, perfect passive participle of stringō (“compress, tighten”). Doublet of strict.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -eɪt
• Homophone: straight

Adjective

strait (comparative straiter, superlative straitest)

1. (archaic) Narrow; restricted as to space or room; close.
   • 1866, Algernon Swinburne, Aholibah, lines 53-55

     Sweet oil was poured out on thy head

     And ran down like cool rain between

     The strait close locks it melted in.

   • 1900, Ernest Dowson, To One in Bedlam, lines 3-5

     Those scentless wisps of straw, that miserably line

     His strait, caged universe, whereat the dull world stares,

     Pedant and pitiful.

2. (archaic) Righteous, strict.

   To follow the strait and narrow

Usage notes

The adjective is often confused with straight.

Derived terms

• straitjacket
• strait-laced

Noun

strait (plural straits)

Sketch of a strait connecting two larger bodies of water.

Wikipedia

1. (geography) A narrow channel of water connecting two larger bodies of water.

   The Strait of Gibraltar

2. A difficult position (often used in plural)

   To be in dire straits

Derived terms

• dire straits

Translations

narrow channel of water

• Arabic: مضيق (ar) (maDiiq) m, مختنق (ar) (mukhatanaq) m
• Armenian: նեղուց (neġuc')
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 海峽 (cmn), 海峡 (cmn) (hǎixiá)

• Czech: průliv (cs) m
• Danish: stræde (da) n
• Dutch: straat (nl) m and f, nauw (nl) n
• Esperanto: markolo (eo)
• Estonian: väin (et)
• Finnish: salmi (fi)
• French: détroit (fr) m
• German: Meerenge (de) f, Enge (de) f, Straße (de) f
• Hungarian: szoros (hu)
• Icelandic: sund (is) n
• Indonesian: selat (id)
• Italian: stretto (it) m
• Japanese: 海峡 (ja) (かいきょう, kaikyō)

• Jèrriais: dêtrait m
• Khmer: ច្រកសមុទ្រ (km) (chrɑɑk sa’mot)
• Korean: 해협 (ko) (haehyeop) (海峽)
• Malay: selat (ms)
• Norwegian: sund, strede (no) n, strete, kanal (no) m,
• Portuguese: estreito (pt)
• Russian: пролив (ru) (prolív) m
• Scottish Gaelic: caol (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:

  Roman: tjesnac (sh) m, moreuz m

• Slovak: prieliv (sk) m
• Spanish: estrecho (es) m, paso (es) m
• Tagalog: kipot (tl)
• Vietnamese: chật hẹp (vi)
• Võro: salm

a difficult position

• Dutch: nauw (nl) n
• Finnish: kiipeli (fi)
• Italian: stretta (it) f
• Japanese: 難局 (なんきょく, nankyoku), 困難 (こんなん, konnan), 苦境 (くきょう, kukyō)

• Portuguese: aperto (pt) m
• Russian: затруднительное положение n
• Serbo-Croatian: škripac m
• Spanish: aprieto (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Greek: στενό n

• Portuguese: estreito m
• Sindhi: ڳچي سمنڊ m
• Telugu: జలసంధి (jalasaMdhi)

Verb

strait (third-person singular simple present straits, present participle straiting, simple past and past participle straited)

1. (obsolete) To put to difficulties.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Adverb

strait (comparative more strait, superlative most strait)

1. (obsolete) Strictly; rigorously.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Anagrams

• artist, strati, traits