STRAIT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does strait mean? 

• STRAIT (noun)
  The noun STRAIT has 2 senses:

1. a narrow channel of the sea joining two larger bodies of water

2. a bad or difficult situation or state of affairs

  Familiarity information: STRAIT used as a noun is rare.

• STRAIT (adjective)
  The adjective STRAIT has 1 sense:

1. narrow

  Familiarity information: STRAIT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STRAIT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A narrow channel of the sea joining two larger bodies of water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

sound; strait

Hypernyms ("strait" is a kind of...):

channel (a deep and relatively narrow body of water (as in a river or a harbor or a strait linking two larger bodies) that allows the best passage for vessels)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "strait"):

narrow (a narrow strait connecting two bodies of water)

Instance hyponyms:

East River (a tidal strait separating Manhattan and the Bronx from Queens and Brooklyn)

Torres Strait (a strait between northeastern Australia and southern New Guinea that connects the Coral Sea with the Arafura Sea)

Strait of Malacca (the strait between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra; it connects the Pacific Ocean to the east with the Indian Ocean to the west and is an important shipping lane)

Pas de Calais; Strait of Calais; Strait of Dover (the strait between the English Channel and the North Sea; shortest distance between England and the European continent)

Strait of Messina (the strait separating Sicily from the tip of Italy)

Strait of Magellan (the strait separating South America from Tierra del Fuego and other islands to the south of the continent; discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520; an important route around South America before the Panama Canal was built)

Strait of Hormuz; Strait of Ormuz (a strategically important strait linking the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman)

Strait of Gibraltar (the strait between Spain and Africa)

Strait of Georgia (the strait separating Vancouver Island from the Canadian mainland)

Solent (a strait of the English Channel between the coast of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight)

Skagerak; Skagerrak (a broad strait of the North Sea between Jutland and Norway)

North Channel (a strait between Northern Ireland and Scotland that connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea)

Menai Strait (a strait in northern Wales between Anglesey Island and the mainland)

Korea Strait; Korean Strait (a strait between Korea and Japan; connects the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan)

Kattegatt (a strait of the North Sea between Jutland and Sweden; connects with the North Sea through the Skagerrak)

Golden Gate (a strait in western California that connects the San Francisco Bay with the Pacific Ocean; discovered in 1579 by Sir Francis Drake)

Cook Strait (a narrow strait separating the North Island and South Island in New Zealand)

Bosporus (a strait connecting the Mediterranean and the Black Sea; separates the European and Asian parts of Turkey; an important shipping route)

Bering Strait (a strait connecting the Bering Sea to the Arctic Ocean)

Canakkale Bogazi; Dardanelles; Hellespont (the strait between the Aegean and the Sea of Marmara that separates European Turkey from Asian Turkey)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A bad or difficult situation or state of affairs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

pass; strait; straits

Hypernyms ("strait" is a kind of...):

situation (a complex or critical or unusual difficulty)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "strait"):

desperate straits; dire straits (a state of extreme distress)

• STRAIT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Narrow

Context example:

strait is the gate

Similar:

narrow (not wide)

Domain usage:

archaicism; archaism (the use of an archaic expression)

 Context examples 

Oh, John, my friend, we are in awful straits.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Thirty years have I been on the sea, and never yet in greater straits.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Soon we passed out of the straits and doubled the south-east corner of the island, round which, four days ago, we had towed the HISPANIOLA.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There were three branches of the contest, and he entered them all, laughing at himself bitterly the while in that he was driven to such straits to live.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Just now it's the fashion to be hideous, to make your head look like a scrubbing brush, wear a strait jacket, orange gloves, and clumping square-toed boots.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Your mind is my treasure, and if it were broken, it would be my treasure still: if you raved, my arms should confine you, and not a strait waistcoat—your grasp, even in fury, would have a charm for me: if you flew at me as wildly as that woman did this morning, I should receive you in an embrace, at least as fond as it would be restrictive.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

We landed at a small port-town called Xamoschi, situated on the south-east part of Japan; the town lies on the western point, where there is a narrow strait leading northward into along arm of the sea, upon the north-west part of which, Yedo, the metropolis, stands.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Remember that we are in terrible straits.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

With all my heart, my dear lord, but how can I leave you in such a strait?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In the second place, the ebb was now making—a strong rippling current running westward through the basin, and then south'ard and seaward down the straits by which we had entered in the morning.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)