What does "strand" mean?
The shore or beach of the sea or ocean.
Strand
/stɹænd/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The shore or beach of the sea or ocean.
- Grammar: strand is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: filament, string, abandon, anarchist philosophy.
- Useful contrasts: aid, bulk, core.
- Usage evidence: You can feel the worm as a painful strand under the skin.
How to use "strand"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "strand" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "strand" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "strand" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "strand" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "strand" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "filament" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "strand", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The shore or beach of the sea or ocean.
"Grand Strand"
- 2 Each of the strings which, twisted together, make up a yarn, rope or cord.
- 3 a necklace made by stringing objects together wordnet
- 4 The shore or beach of a lake or river. archaic, dialectal, poetic
- 5 A string.
Show 14 more definitions
- 6 line consisting of a complex of fibers or filaments that are twisted together to form a thread or a rope or a cable wordnet
- 7 A small brook or rivulet.
- 8 An individual length of any fine, string-like substance.
"strand of spaghetti"
- 9 a pattern forming a unity within a larger structural whole wordnet
- 10 A passage for water; gutter. British, Northern-England, Scotland, dialectal
- 11 A group of wires, usually twisted or braided.
- 12 a poetic term for a shore (as the area periodically covered and uncovered by the tides) wordnet
- 13 A street.
- 14 A series of programmes on a particular theme or linked subject.
"By 1985, the children's strand had been renamed Children's BBC (CBBC by the mid-1990s), which continued to show animation among other programming in a dedicated time slot."
- 15 a very slender natural or synthetic fiber wordnet
- 16 An element in a composite whole; a sequence of linked events or facts; a logical thread. figuratively
"strand of truth"
- 17 A nucleotide chain.
- 18 A specialization of a senior high school track. Philippines, formal
- 19 Synonym of track. Philippines, informal
Verb
- 1 To run aground; to beach. transitive
- 2 To break a strand of (a rope). transitive
- 3 bring to the ground wordnet
- 4 To leave (someone) in a difficult situation; to abandon or desert. figuratively, transitive
- 5 To form by uniting strands. transitive
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 drive (a vessel) ashore wordnet
- 7 To cause the third out of an inning to be made, leaving a runner on base. transitive
"Jones pops up; that's going to strand a pair."
- 8 leave stranded or isolated with little hope of rescue wordnet
- 9 To leave an element (e.g., an adposition) without its complement adjacent to it. transitive
"We first note that wh-movement can freely strand prepositions in Icelandic, as in the other Scandinavian languages."
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname. countable, uncountable
- 2 A street in Westminster running from Trafalgar Square to Fleet Street. countable, uncountable
- 3 An area surrounding the street in central London, Greater London, England. countable, uncountable
- 4 A municipality of Rogaland, Norway. countable, uncountable
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"You can feel the worm as a painful strand under the skin."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "strand"?
Common synonyms include: filament, string, abandon, anarchist philosophy, animal fiber, artificial fiber.
How do you use "strand" in a sentence?
You can feel the worm as a painful strand under the skin.
How do you pronounce "strand"?
Pronounced /stɹænd/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
* From Middle English strand, strond, from Old English strand (“strand, sea-shore, shore”), from Proto-West Germanic *strand, from Proto-Germanic *strandō (“edge, rim, shore”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)trAnt- (“strand, border, field”), from Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- (“to broaden, spread out”). Cognate with West Frisian strân, Dutch strand, German Strand, Danish strand, Swedish strand, Norwegian Bokmål strand, Icelandic strönd. * (street): Perhaps from the similarity of shape.
Etymology 2
Origin uncertain. Cognate with Scots stran, strawn, strand (“strand”). Perhaps the same as strand ("rivulet, stream, gutter"; see Etymology 1 above); or from Middle English *stran, from Old French estran (“a rope, cord”), from Middle High German stren, strene (“skein, strand”), from Old High German streno, from Proto-West Germanic *strenō, from Proto-Germanic *strinô (“strip, strand”), from Proto-Indo-European *strēy-, *ster- (“strip, line, streak, ray, stripe, row”); related to Dutch streng (“skein, hank of thread, strand, string”), German Strähne (“skein, hank of thread, strand of hair”). Compare also Old High German stranga (“strand of hair”), modern German Strang (“strand, thread, cord”).
Etymology 3
So called after the north strand (i.e. shore) of the river Thames.