strain

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

v. t. stretch, make taut; strive, exert; sprain; overtax, overstretch; filter, percolate. See cleanness, egress, exaggeration. — n. effort, exertion; pressure; line of descent, stock, ancestry; streak, trace; sprain; section, passage (see music, poetry).

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Effort]

Syn. exertion, struggle, endeavor; see effort 1 .

2. [Mental tension]

Syn. anxiety, tension, pressure; see stress 3 .

3. [A bodily injury less than a sprain]

Syn. wrench, twist, stretch, ache, jerk, bruise, charley horse.

4. [Pressure]

Syn. tension, force, pull; see stress 2 .

v.

1. [To exert]

Syn. strive, endeavor, labor; see try 1 .

2. [To wrench]

Syn. twist, sprain, distort; see hurt 1 , wrench .

3. [To stretch]

Syn. rack, extend, draw tight; see stretch 2 , tighten 1 .

4. [To filter]

Syn. refine, purify, screen; see filter 2 , sift 2 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

1. stress tension, pressure, force, pull, tightness, exertion, effort.

2. injury sprain, muscle pull, wrench, cramp, twist.

3. ancestry lineage, extraction, bloodline, stock, pedigree, family, descent, descendants, breed.

4. trace hint, suggestion, streak, shade, touch, suspicion.

II

v.

1. stretch tighten, draw tight, pull, exert, overexert, tax, force, struggle, labor.

2. injure sprain, pull a muscle, wrench, cramp, twist.

3. distort stretch, exaggerate.

4. filter sieve, screen, sift, refine, percolate.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The use of energy to do something: effort, endeavor, exertion, pain (used in plural), striving, struggle, trouble, while. Informal: elbow grease. See WORK. 2. The act, condition, or effect of exerting force on someone or something: pressure, stress, tension. See PUSH.

V

(Roget's Thesaurus II) verb To exert one's mental or physical powers, usually under difficulty and to the point of exhaustion: drive, fag, labor, moil, strive, sweat, toil, travail, tug, work. Idiom: break one's back (or neck). See WORK.

VI

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. An intermixture of a contrasting or unexpected quality, especially in a person's character: streak, vein. See BE. 2. A pleasing succession of musical tones forming a usually brief aesthetic unit: air, aria, melody, tune. Obsolete: note. See SOUNDS.