strait — a narrow passage of water connecting two seas or large areas of water
Part of speech: NOUN
Definition: a narrow passage of water connecting two seas or large areas of water
Pronunciation (IPA): /streɪt/
Example Sentences
- The captain nervously steered through the strait, muttering 'This is stressing me out more than my mother-in-law's cooking!'
- After losing his job, Tom found himself in such dire straits that he started selling his comic book collection.
- The Korea Strait between Korea and Japan is only 180km wide at its narrowest point.
strait
NOUN[/streɪt/]
a narrow passage of water connecting two seas or large areas of water
The narrow strait squeezes between two cliffs as a ship carefully passes through.
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🎤Pronunciation
🌳Etymology
Origin
The word derives from Latin 'strictus' (narrow, tight), which passed through Old French 'estreit' before entering English. The original sense of 'narrow' semantically broadened to encompass both a narrow waterway and a condition of difficulty or distress.
Breakdown
Latin 'strictus' (narrow, tight) → Old French 'estreit' → English 'strait'. The morphological core 'strict-' preserves the Latin root meaning of narrowness or constraint, which evolved to denote both geographical and circumstantial constriction.
🎵Rhyme
🔗Collocations
📝Examples
“The captain nervously steered through the strait, muttering 'This is stressing me out more than my mother-in-law's cooking!'”
“After losing his job, Tom found himself in such dire straits that he started selling his comic book collection.”
“The Korea Strait between Korea and Japan is only 180km wide at its narrowest point.”
“When the startup ran out of funding, they were in such financial straits that the CEO joked about selling kidneys online.”
📚Related Words
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