2 meanings
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1 —as in:
Strait of Hormuz
Definition
a narrow channel of the sea joining two larger bodies of water- The Strait of Gibraltar connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.
strait = a narrow water way that joins two larger bodies of water
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- Chile's Strait of Magellan is the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
- Sunlight glinted off the water as we chugged up the Strait of Georgia.Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild
- That whirlpool was of course the reason Scylla had chosen these straits.Madeline Miller -- Circe
- The wash of that last great wave shoved us forward, out of the straits.Madeline Miller -- Circe
- He looped it around the rudder, yanking at it, fighting to point us back out of the straits.Madeline Miller -- Circe
- The straits loomed, and we slipped into their mouth.Madeline Miller -- Circe
- "To the straits," I said.Madeline Miller -- Circe
- That's exactly what we're going to do... The party navigated the strait in identical fashion as before.Henry H. Neff -- The Fiend And The Forge
- The Ormenheid continued through the strait and out onto the open ocean.Henry H. Neff -- The Fiend And The Forge
strait = a narrow water way that joins two larger bodies of water
strait = a narrow channel of the sea joining two larger bodies of water
straits = narrow water passages
straits = narrow water passages
straits = narrow water passages
straits = narrow water passages
straits = narrow water passages
strait = narrow water passage
strait = narrow water passage
2 —as in:
put her in a tough strait
Definition
a bad or difficult situation- She had been avoiding the controversy, but the protests have put her in a dire strait.
strait = a bad or difficult situation
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- Seeing him, I felt that I was in a dangerous strait indeed, and I kept my eyes upon him.Charles Dickens -- Great Expectations
- Miss Bray has wealthy friends who would coin their very hearts to save her in such a strait as this.Charles Dickens -- Nicholas Nickleby
- The allusion served as a timely reminder to Darnay that this disagreeable companion had, of his own free will, assisted him in the strait of the day.Charles Dickens -- A Tale of Two Cities
- The strait she was in through pride and shrewishness could not be disguised longer: she burst out crying bitterly; they all saw it; and she attempted no further concealment.Thomas Hardy -- Far from the Madding Crowd
- It is observable that when people upon the stage are in any strait involving the very last extremity of weakness and exhaustion, they invariably perform feats of strength requiring great ingenuity and muscular power.Charles Dickens -- Nicholas Nickleby
- Once a vagabond on his own canal, I have received good turns from one of these Canallers; I thank him heartily; would fain be not ungrateful; but it is often one of the prime redeeming qualities of your man of violence, that at times he has as stiff an arm to back a poor stranger in a strait, as to plunder a wealthy one.Herman Melville -- Moby Dick
- The short boy had gained a great advantage over the tall boy, who was reduced to mortal strait, and both were overlooked by a large heavy man, perched against the corner of a table, who emphatically adjured them to strike a little more fire out of the swords, and they couldn't fail to bring the house down, on the very first night.Charles Dickens -- Nicholas Nickleby
- Still England has been some weeks in the dismal strait of having no pilot (as was well observed by Sir Leicester Dedlock) to weather the storm; and the marvellous part of the matter is that England has not appeared to care very much about it, but has gone on eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage as the old world did in the days before the flood.Charles Dickens -- Bleak House
- You know, too, that I can't go without putting things in such a strait as you wouldn't get out of I can't tell when.Thomas Hardy -- Far from the Madding Crowd
strait = bad or difficult situation
strait = bad or difficult situation
strait = bad or difficult situation
strait = difficult situation
strait = difficult situation
strait = difficult situation
strait = bad situation
strait = bad or difficult situation
strait = bad or difficult situation
More commonly:
Less commonly (and typically archaically), strait can refer to a narrow, cramped area as when used in the compound word, straitjacket; or can by a synonym for strict or rigid as when used in the expression strait-laced.