What does "strip" mean?
A long, thin piece of land; any long, thin area.
Strip
/stɹɪp/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A long, thin piece of land; any long, thin area.
- Grammar: strip is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: deprive, peel, abscind, adhesive tape.
- Useful contrasts: clothed in robes, forested, jeweled.
- Usage evidence: The strong, gusty wind strived to strip the leaves off the trees.
How to use "strip"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "strip" 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 "strip" 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 "strip" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "strip" 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 "strip" 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 "deprive" 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 "strip", 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 A long, thin piece of land; any long, thin area. countable
"The countries were in dispute over the ownership of a strip of desert about 100 metres wide."
- 2 The act of removing one's clothes; a striptease.
"She stood up on the table and did a strip."
- 3 a form of erotic entertainment in which a dancer gradually undresses to music wordnet
- 4 A long, thin piece of any material; any such material collectively. countable, sometimes, uncountable, usually
"Papier mache is made from strips of paper."
- 5 Denotes a version of a game in which losing players must progressively remove their clothes. attributive
"strip poker; strip Scrabble"
Show 16 more definitions
- 6 an airfield without normal airport facilities wordnet
- 7 A comic strip. countable, uncountable
- 8 artifact consisting of a narrow flat piece of material wordnet
- 9 A landing strip. countable, uncountable
- 10 thin piece of wood or metal wordnet
- 11 A strip steak. countable, uncountable
- 12 a sequence of drawings telling a story in a newspaper or comic book wordnet
- 13 A street with multiple shopping or entertainment possibilities. US, countable, uncountable
- 14 a relatively long narrow piece of something wordnet
- 15 The playing area, roughly 14 meters by 2 meters. countable, uncountable
- 16 The uniform of a football team, or the same worn by supporters. UK, countable, uncountable
- 17 A trough for washing ore. countable, uncountable
- 18 The issuing of a projectile from a rifled gun without acquiring the spiral motion. countable, uncountable
"You learn, in 'Cleaning Arms,' how rust may cause a 'strip,' and how it must interfere with expansion. I need hardly say, that if the grooves be filled up, the rotation will be lost; or if the grooves be partially filled up, the rotation will be weak,"
- 19 A television series aired at the same time daily (or at least on Mondays to Fridays), so that it appears as a strip straight across the weekly schedule. countable, uncountable
"ABC-TV this week put into effect its long anticipated plans to move into daytime programming in a bigger way by opening up its 4-5 across-the-board strip. The web is using its "Mickey Mouse Club," which is stoutly anchored in the 5-6 p.m. slot, as a backing up point for its afternoon expansion."
- 20 An investment strategy involving simultaneous trade with one call and two put options on the same security at the same strike price, similar to but more bearish than a straddle. countable, uncountable
- 21 A strip club. countable, slang, uncountable
"You be throwing cash in the strip My lil' bitch sucking dick for the free."
Verb
- 1 To remove or take away, often in strips or stripes. transitive
"Norm will strip the old varnish before painting the chair."
- 2 get undressed wordnet
- 3 To take off clothing. intransitive, usually
"Seeing that no one else was about, he stripped and dived into the river."
- 4 remove (someone's or one's own) clothes wordnet
- 5 To perform a striptease. intransitive
"In the seedy club, a group of drunken men were watching a woman stripping."
Show 31 more definitions
- 6 draw the last milk (of cows) wordnet
- 7 To take away something from (someone or something); to plunder; to divest. transitive
"The athlete was stripped of his medal after failing a drugs test."
- 8 take off or remove wordnet
- 9 To remove cargo from (a container). transitive
- 10 remove a constituent from a liquid wordnet
- 11 To remove (the thread or teeth) from a screw, nut, or gear, especially inadvertently by overtightening. transitive
"Don't tighten that bolt any more or you'll strip the thread."
- 12 remove the thread (of screws) wordnet
- 13 To fail in the thread; to lose the thread, as a bolt, screw, or nut. intransitive
- 14 lay bare wordnet
- 15 To fire (a bullet or ball) from a rifle such that it fails to pick up a spin from the rifling. transitive
"Well, strange to say, it is the opinion of "Stonehenge," and other good judges, that no rifle so readily strips its ball, which consequently passes through the barrel without receiving the rotatory motion, and performs the most eccentric flights."
- 16 remove substances from by a percolating liquid wordnet
- 17 To fail to pick up a spin from the grooves in a rifle barrel. intransitive
"The number of grooves being only three, admits of these being shallow, so that the ball does not strip readily, while a further most ingenious adaptation is that the grooves be trice as deep (but, let the reader remember that such measurements are made by five-thousanths of an inch) at the breech as at the mizzle, so that the ball always becoming more compressed as it leaves the barrel."
- 18 remove the surface from wordnet
- 19 To remove color from hair, cloth, etc. to prepare it to receive new color. transitive
- 20 strip the cured leaves from wordnet
- 21 To remove all cards of a particular suit from another player. (See also strip-squeeze.) transitive
- 22 remove all contents or possession from, or empty completely wordnet
- 23 To empty (tubing) by applying pressure to the outside of (the tubing) and moving that pressure along (the tubing). transitive
- 24 take away possessions from someone wordnet
- 25 To milk a cow, especially by stroking and compressing the teats to draw out the last of the milk. transitive
- 26 steal goods; take as spoils wordnet
- 27 To press out the ripe roe or milt from fishes, for artificial fecundation.
- 28 To run a television series at the same time daily (or at least on Mondays to Fridays), so that it appears as a strip straight across the weekly schedule. transitive
- 29 To pare off the surface of (land) in strips. transitive
- 30 To remove the overlying earth from (a deposit). transitive
- 31 To pass; to get clear of; to outstrip. obsolete, transitive
"when first they stripp'd the Malean promontory"
- 32 To remove the insulation from a wire/cable.
- 33 To remove the metal coating from (a plated article), as by acids or electrolytic action.
- 34 To remove fibre, flock, or lint from; said of the teeth of a card when it becomes partly clogged.
- 35 To pick the cured leaves from the stalks of (tobacco) and tie them into "hands".
- 36 To remove the midrib from (tobacco leaves).
Proper Noun
- 1 Ellipsis of Gaza Strip (“Levant”). abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informal
- 2 Ellipsis of Vegas Strip or Las Vegas Strip, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informal
- 3 Ellipsis of Sunset Strip, in Los Angeles, California, USA. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informal
- 4 Ellipsis of Strip District, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informal
Example
"The strong, gusty wind strived to strip the leaves off the trees."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "strip"?
Common synonyms include: deprive, peel, abscind, adhesive tape, airstrip, airstrip.
How do you use "strip" in a sentence?
The strong, gusty wind strived to strip the leaves off the trees.
How do you pronounce "strip"?
Pronounced /stɹɪp/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From alteration of stripe or from Middle Low German strippe, of uncertain ultimate origin, perhaps derived from a lost strong verb Proto-Germanic *strīpaną, with no clear cognates outside of Germanic except for Irish sríab (“line, stripe”).
Etymology 2
From Middle English strepen, strippen, from Old English strīepan (“plunder”), from Proto-Germanic *strēpōną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ter(h₁)- (“to be stiff; be rigid; exert”). Probably related to German Strafe (“deprivation, fine, punishment”).