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strait

used in a sentence
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.
    • strait = a narrow water way that joins two larger bodies of water
  • Sunlight glinted off the water as we chugged up the Strait of Georgia.
    Jon Krakauer  --  Into the Wild
    • strait = a narrow channel of the sea joining two larger bodies of water
  • That whirlpool was of course the reason Scylla had chosen these straits.
    Madeline Miller  --  Circe
    • straits = narrow water passages
  • Passed Gibraltar and out through Straits.
    Bram Stoker  --  Dracula
    • straits = narrow water passages
  • The wash of that last great wave shoved us forward, out of the straits.
    Madeline Miller  --  Circe
    • straits = narrow water passages
  • He looped it around the rudder, yanking at it, fighting to point us back out of the straits.
    Madeline Miller  --  Circe
    • straits = narrow water passages
  • The straits loomed, and we slipped into their mouth.
    Madeline Miller  --  Circe
    • straits = narrow water passages
  • "To the straits," I said.
    Madeline Miller  --  Circe
    • straits = narrow water passages
  • 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
strait = narrow water passage

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google®Dictionary list — Onelook.com®
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)
  • Oh, John, my friend, we are in awful straits.
    Bram Stoker  --  Dracula
    • straits = a bad or difficult situation
  • But my father has always been a romantic rather than a businessman and in the meantime he and Hidayatullah were in such desperate straits that they ran out of credit with the local shopkeeper and could not even buy tea or sugar.
    Malala Yousafzai  --  I Am Malala
    • straits = a bad or difficult situation
  • Remember that we are in terrible straits.
    Bram Stoker  --  Dracula
    • straits = a bad or difficult situation
  • Seeing him, I felt that I was in a dangerous strait indeed, and I kept my eyes upon him.
    Charles Dickens  --  Great Expectations
    • strait = bad or difficult situation
  • Miss Bray has wealthy friends who would coin their very hearts to save her in such a strait as this.
    Charles Dickens  --  Nicholas Nickleby
    • strait = bad or difficult situation
  • 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
    • strait = bad or difficult situation
  • 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
    • strait = difficult situation
  • I am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears, or else I am in desperate straits, and if the latter be so, I need, and shall need, all my brains to get through.
    Bram Stoker  --  Dracula
    • straits = a bad or difficult situation
  • 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
strait = difficult situation

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google®Dictionary list — Onelook.com®
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.
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