strong

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English strong, strang, from Old English strang, from Proto-West Germanic *strang, from Proto-Germanic *strangaz (“tight, strict, straight, strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“taut, stiff, tight”). Cognate with Scots strang (“strong”), Saterland Frisian strang, West Frisian string (“austere, strict, harsh, severe, stern, stark, tough”), Dutch streng (“strict, severe, tight”), German streng (“strict, severe, austere”), Swedish sträng, strang (“severe, strict, harsh”), Norwegian strang (“strong, harsh, bitter”), Norwegian streng (“strong, hard”), Icelandic strangur (“strict”), Latin stringō (“tighten”).

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) enPR: strŏng, IPA(key): /stɹɒŋ/, [st̠͡ɹ̠ɒŋ], [ʃt̠͡ɹ̠ɒŋ]
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • (US) enPR: strông, IPA(key): /stɹɔŋ/, [st̠͡ɹ̠ɔŋ], [ʃt̠͡ɹ̠ɔŋ], [ʃt͡ʃɹɔŋ]
  • (cot–caught merger) enPR: strŏng, IPA(key): /stɹɑŋ/, [st̠͡ɹ̠ɑŋ], [ʃt̠͡ɹ̠ɑŋ]
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɒŋ

Adjective

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strong (comparative stronger, superlative strongest)

  1. Capable of producing great physical force.
    Synonyms: forceful, powerful
    Antonyms: weak, forceless
    a big strong man; Jake was tall and strong
    The man was nearly drowned after a strong undercurrent swept him out to sea.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      For he was swift as swallow in her flight,
      And strong as Lyon in his lordly might.
    • 1853 April, Warren Isham, “Notes from Hungary”, in Warren Isham, editor, The Michigan Farmer, volume XI, number 4:
      But what sight is that? It seems a town right in the river, each building standing upon its own foundation, with the deep, strong current of the river sweeping all around it? They are flouring mills operated by the natural current of the stream.
  2. Capable of withstanding great physical force.
    Synonyms: durable, sturdy, tough
    Antonym: fragile
    a strong foundation; good strong shoes
  3. (broadly) Possessing power, might, or strength.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 24:5:
      A wise man is strong, yea a man of knowledge encreaseth strength.
    • 1954, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “The Passage of the Marshes”, in The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings; 2), HarperCollinsPublishers, published 2001, page 619:
      Perhaps we grows very strong, stronger than Wraiths. Lord Smeagol? Gollum the Great? The Gollum! Eat fish every day, three times a day, fresh from the sea.
    • 2010, Heinrich D Holland, Karl K. Turekian, Isotope Geochemistry:
      Outgassing of oxygen is strongest when primary production rates are greatest; ingassing is at a maximum during net respiration.
  4. Determined; unyielding.
    Synonyms: ardent, zealous, (dialectal) swith
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
    • 1934 March, Hermann Göring, Germany Reborn, page 47:
      Ideas are eternal; they hang in the stars, and a man must be brave and strong enough to reach up to the stars and fetch down the fire from heaven and to carry the torch among men.
    • 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America‎[1], archived from the original on 7 February 2019:
      It noted China was especially strong in the fast-growing area of “deep learning.”
      Audio (US):(file)
    He is strong in the face of adversity.
  5. Highly stimulating to the senses.
    Synonyms: extreme, intense
    a strong light; a strong taste
  6. Having an offensive or intense odor or flavor.
    Synonym: rank
    a strong smell
  8. Having a high concentration of an essential or active ingredient.
    Synonyms: concentrated, potent
    Antonyms: weak, diluted, impotent
    a strong cup of coffee; a strong medicine
  10. (specifically) Having a high alcoholic content.
    Synonym: hard
    a strong drink
    She gets up, and pours herself a strong one. - Eagles, Lying Eyes
  11. (grammar) Inflecting in a different manner than the one called weak, such as Germanic verbs which change vowels.
    Antonym: weak
    a strong verb
  12. (chemistry) That completely ionizes into anions and cations in a solution.
    Antonym: weak
    a strong acid;  a strong base
  13. (military) Not easily subdued or taken.
    Synonyms: impregnable, inviolable, secure, unassailable, unattackable
    Antonym: weak
    a strong position
  14. Having wealth or resources.
    a strong economy
  15. (slang, US) Impressive, good.
    You're working with troubled youth in your off time? That’s strong!
  16. Having a specified number of people or units.
    The enemy's army force was five thousand strong.
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene i:
      Our armie will be forty thouſand ſtrong,
      When Tamburlain and braue Theridamas
      Haue met vs by the riuer Araris:
      And all conioin’d to meete the witleſſe King,
      That now is marching neere to Parthia.
  17. (of a disease or symptom) Severe; very bad or intense.
    • 2005, Andrew Gaeddert, Healing Immune Disorders: Natural Defense-Building Solutions, North Atlantic Books, page 221:
      Physicians may diagnosis influenza by a throat culture or blood test, which may be important if you have a particularly strong flu, if your doctor suspects pneumonia or a bacterial infection.
  18. (mathematics, logic) Having a wide range of logical consequences; widely applicable. (Often contrasted with a weak statement which it implies.)
  19. (of an argument) Convincing.
    • 1558, John Knox, The Appellation of Iohn Knoxe from the cruell and moſt iniuſt ſentence pronounced againſt him by the falſe biſhoppes and clergie of Scotland, page 11v:
      […] but grounding him ſelfe vpon ſtrong reaſons, to wit, that he had not offended the Iewes, neither yet the Law, but that he was innocēt, and therefore that no iudge oght to geue hym in the hādes of his ennemies […]

Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Sranan Tongo: tranga

Translations

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having a high alcoholic content
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

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Adverb

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strong (not comparable)

  1. In a strong manner.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Translations

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See also

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Etymology 1

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From Old English strang, form Proto-Germanic *strangaz.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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strong (plural and weak singular stronge, comparative strenger or stronger, superlative strengest or strongest)

  1. strong
Antonyms
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Descendants
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References
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Etymology 2

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From Old French estrange.

Adjective

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strong

  1. Alternative form of straunge

Old English

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Adjective

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strong

  1. Alternative form of strang

Swedish

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Etymology

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Through Swedish slang, based on English strong, since 1922. There is also a form strång with a different sense since 1640.

Adjective

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strong (comparative strongare, superlative strongast)

  1. (colloquial) mentally and morally strong, courageous
  2. (colloquial) strong (of a performance or the like)
    Synonym: stark

Declension

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Inflection of strong
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular strong strongare strongast
Neuter singular strongt strongare strongast
Plural stronga strongare strongast
Masculine plural3 stronge strongare strongast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 stronge strongare strongaste
All stronga strongare strongaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
3) Dated or archaic
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References

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Tok Pisin

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Etymology

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From English strong.

Adjective

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strong

  1. Capable of producing great physical force; strong.
  2. Capable of withstanding great physical force; strong.
  3. Determined, unyielding.

See also

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Noun

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strong

  1. Strength
    • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Jenesis 1:22:
      Na God i mekim gutpela tok bilong givim strong long ol. Em i tokim ol olsem, “Yupela ol kain kain samting bilong solwara, yupela i mas kamap planti na pulapim olgeta hap bilong solwara. Na yupela ol pisin, yupela i mas kamap planti long graun.”
      →New International Version translation
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