Word.ws English Dictionary

sinews

sinews is the plural of sinew.

Meaning of sinew

Noun

sinew (plural sinews)

  1. A cord or tendon of the body.
  2. A cord or string, particularly (music) as of a musical instrument.
  3. (figuratively) Muscular power, muscle; nerve, nervous energy; vigor, vigorous strength.
  4. (figuratively, in plural, often) That which gives strength or in which strength consists; a supporting factor or member; mainstay.
    • [S]he loſt a noble and renowned brother, in his loue toward her, euer moſt kinde and naturall: with him the portion and ſinew of her fortune, her marriage dowry: with both, her combynate-husband, this well-ſeeming Angelo.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  5. (obsolete) A nerve.

See all 6 meanings of sinew

Phrases with sinews

Questions about sinews

What is sinews the plural of?
Sinews is the plural of sinew.

Words near sinews in the dictionary

  1. sinewing
  2. sinewish
  3. sinewless
  4. sinewlessness
  5. sinewous
  6. sinews
  7. sinews of war
  8. sinewy
  9. Sinești
  10. Sinfin
  11. Sinfong

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sinews (page history and authors); sinew (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “sinews.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sinews. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.