Word.ws English Dictionary

strain a point

strain a point verb: to make a special effort; especially, to do a degree of violence to some principle or to one's own feelings.

Verb

strain a point (third-person singular simple present strains a point, present participle straining a point, simple past and past participle strained a point)

  1. (idiomatic) To make a special effort; especially, to do a degree of violence to some principle or to one's own feelings.
    • I want you to strain a point, Mr Bellingham, and to do me a service which I assure you you shall never have any cause to regret. I want you to wire instructions down the line to detain this Arab and his companions and to keep them in custody until the receipt of further instructions.1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle

Forms of strain a point

third-person singular presentstrains a point
present participlestraining a point
past participlestrained a point
paststrained a point

Questions about strain a point

What does strain a point mean?
Strain a point means to make a special effort; especially, to do a degree of violence to some principle or to one's own feelings.
What part of speech is strain a point?
Strain a point is a verb.
What is the past tense of strain a point?
The past tense of strain a point is strained a point.

Words near strain a point in the dictionary

  1. straighty
  2. straik
  3. straiks
  4. strain
  5. Strain 121
  6. strain a point
  7. strain at a gnat
  8. strain at the leash
  9. strain burst
  10. strain bursts
  11. strain courtesy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: strain a point (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.

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