Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use strained in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective

Strained means forced through a strainer. Example: “Babies don’t seem to like strained peas, even though the puree is easy for them to eat and digest.”

Examples of strained by meaning

adjectiveForced through a strainer.

  • Babies don’t seem to like strained peas, even though the puree is easy for them to eat and digest.

adjectiveUnder tension; tense.

  • Ever since the fight our relationship has been strained.
  • In the summer of 1994, Shaylene’s relationship with her mother was strained.2026 August 6, Nicholas Muhoro, “An Ohio Teen Vanished During a One-Mile Drive in 1994. Her Locked Car Was Found Hours Later”, in Skip...

adjectiveNot natural or spontaneous but done with effort.

  • A strained smile.

More sentences with strained

  • I felt some leg pain during the first mile of my run and I strained my calf two miles later.From the entry later
  • The gale strained the timbers of the ship.From the entry strain
  • Sitting in back, I strained to hear the speaker.From the entry strain
  • Peter slowly ambulated to the bathroom, favoring his strained knee.From the entry ambulate
  • This could be alopecia areata (patchy hair loss), traction alopecia (strained hair loss) or another form.2024 March 31, Glen Jankowski, “Alopecia in art history: The many ways women’s hair loss has been interpreted”, in CNN, archived from the…. From the entry areata
  • I strained to see over the soldiers in front of me.2007, Brandon Friedman, The War I Always Wanted: The Illusion of Glory, →ISBN, page 57. From the entry ruck
  • Lard mixed with crushed and strained garlic has been used as an erotic ointment.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 135. From the entry lard
  • Notice, too, that Crisco is being strained back into its can—ready for many other deep-fryings.1933 October, Better Homes & Gardens, volume 12, number 2, page 25. From the entry deep-frying
  • Blackouts were reported throughout the region as people trying to keep cool with fans and air conditioners strained the power grid.2021 June 29, Gabrielle Canon, “Historic heatwave, extreme drought and wildfires plague North American west”, in The Guardian. From the entry climate breakdown
  • And he strained his morning mango juice.2020, Millie Estevez, The Chelsea Widow. From the entry snowy
  • Soon, he strained trying to open things.2018 November 20, Nate Mink, “Green on ALS fight: ‘Life can never be long enough’”, in The Post-Standard, Syracuse, N.Y., →OCLC, page B1…. From the entry nailclipper
  • There was only a vague, achy sense of evasion as her retinas strained to accomplish her mind's desire, and failed.2015, Nick Coleman, Pillow Man, page 109. From the entry biting point
  • His players, the Hustlin’ Owls, known as Danny’s Boys to the locals, strained to hear the instructions Miles whispered.2012 February 23, Greg Bishop, “For 41 Years, Town Cheers Danny’s Boys”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times…. From the entry beet red
  • Her green velveteen dress strained to contain a vast bosom as, arms akimbo she checked the activities. ‘What a lovely lady.2007, John Dyson, Silver Galore, Anstey, Leics: Linford, F. A. Thorpe (Publishing), published 2008, page 46. From the entry milkjug
  • As the Pirate Captain strained at the ham, the whale began to spasm and buck about in the water.2005, Gideon Defoe, The Pirates!: in an adventure with Ahab, page 140. From the entry windmill
  • You had so much success with shinobi-iri — but both your mind and your body have been severely strained lately.2004, Carrie Asai, The Book of the Pearl, page 42. From the entry shinobi-iri
  • This is strained with a piece of cloth or a strainer and the green liquid forms the gravy of the curry.1992, Khammān Khonkhai, The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp. From the entry gravy
  • Bull fixed the claw under a batten, strained like a sailor at the capstan, shirt off, arms chevroned by elaborate tattoos.1983, Allen Sillitoe, The Lost Flying Boat, →ISBN, page 118. From the entry chevron
  • Each substituend SN, it seems, would amount to the same thing as its corresponding UN in SOME not very strained context.1972, John King-Farlow, W.N. Christensen, “Probability and the 'Will to Believe'”, in Logic, Identity, and Consistency, D. Reidel, →ISBN…. From the entry substituend
  • I held my breath, and strained my ears.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids. From the entry sh
  • All of us look a little strained, a little tired.1919, Stephen Graham, A Private in the Guards, page 139. From the entry wanness
  • Leading the life I did, of the sedulous, strained nurse, I had to do something to keep myself fit.1915, Ford Madox Hueffer [i.e., Ford Madox Ford], chapter I, in The Good Soldier […], Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books…. From the entry sedulous
  • Since the middle of last year, Philadelphia’s hospitals have been strained by patients coming in with what doctors have identified as medetomidine withdrawal.2025 December 15, Jan Hoffman, “A Powerful New Drug Is Creating a 'Withdrawal Crisis' in Philadelphia. Medetomidine, a veterinary…. From the entry medetomidine
  • Overall, relationships became more strained after attempts to convert to romance, regardless of whether they gave it a shot or went straight to the friendzone.2022 August 19, Ekua Hagan, “How People Deal With Being in "The Friend Zone"”, in Psychology Today. From the entry friendzone
  • This property is associated with a non-collinear antiferromagnetic ordering, which induces a weak ferromagnetism and thus, making the strained NaMnF3 fluoroperovskite multiferroic.2015, A. C. Garcia-Castro, A. H. Romero, E. Bousquet, “Strain engineering multiferroism in Pnma NaMnF3 fluoroperovskite”, in arXiv. From the entry fluoroperovskite
  • He looked strained, his eyes gemmy with the determination to sustain all, but his nosy face flat and with a light of pale unhappiness.1953, Saul Bellow, chapter 13, in The Adventures of Augie March, page 294. From the entry gemmy
  • The door flew open, and there was a bloke with spectacles on his face and all round the spectacles an expression of strained anguish.1930 February, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Jeeves and the Old School Chum”, in Very Good, Jeeves!, London: Herbert Jenkins Limited…. From the entry bloke
  • It was at this time that the discord between Dmitri and his father seemed at its acutest stage and their relations had become insufferably strained.1912, Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Elders”, in Constance Garnett, transl., The Brothers Karamazov (Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky; 1), London…. From the entry acute
  • If his humour does not often compel to Olympian laughter, it is, on the other hand, never studied nor overexquisite, nor strained for effect.1902, The Office, London, Punch Volume- CXXII, Hodder & Stoughton, page 294. From the entry overexquisite
  • Clay Hilley brought vocal heft, clarion sound and stamina to the role, though there were stretches where his voice sounded strained, understandably so, given the demands.2017 July 31, Anthony Tommasini, “Review: Flawed but Fascinating Dvorak Opera in a Rare Staging”, in New York Times. From the entry clarion
  • Not for the first time, he reflected that it was not so much the speeches that strained the nerves as the palaver that went with them.1985, Justin Richards, Option Lock, page 229. From the entry palaver
  • A creamy liquid called powcohicoria or "hickory milk" was prepared by the Algonquins: paccan kernels were pounded into small pieces, cast into boiling water, strained and stirred.1984, Frederic Rosengarten, Jr., “Pecans”, in The Book of Edible Nuts (Cooking), Walker and Company, →ISBN, page 172, column 1. From the entry paccan
  • “That's life,” she said, and buzzed off to keep her vigil, leaving me kicking myself because I'd forgotten to say anything about the quality of mercy not being strained.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC. From the entry quality
  • The hobbits wrapped themselves up, but their ears were strained for any sound above the creak of the wheels and the slow clop of the ponies' hoofs.1954, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “A Short Cut to Mushrooms”, in The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the…. From the entry wagon
  • A fat woman in a birdsnest hat and white canvas shoes run over at the heels and clutching a white imitation leather handbag, strained forward behind the officer.1939, Irene Baird, Waste Heritage, Toronto, Ont.: Macmillan of Canada, published 1974, →ISBN, page 19. From the entry birdsnest
  • He laughed each time a camel sank down, and he laughed as they strained and pulled and struggled to get the beast on to its clumsy feet again.1931, Ion L. Idriess, Lasseter's Last Ride, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 101. From the entry bog

Meaning of strained

  1. adjective Forced through a strainer.
  2. adjective Under tension; tense.
  3. adjective Not natural or spontaneous but done with effort.

Full definition of strained

Questions about strained in a sentence

How do you use strained in a sentence?
Strained is used as an adjective. For example: “Babies don’t seem to like strained peas, even though the puree is easy for them to eat and digest.”
What is a short sentence with strained?
“A strained smile.”
What does strained mean?
Strained means forced through a strainer.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: strained (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use strained in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/strained. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.