Word.ws English Dictionary

strain at a gnat

strain at a gnat verb: to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Verb

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

  1. (figuratively, idiomatic) to make a mountain out of a molehill

Forms of strain at a gnat

third-person singular presentstrains at a gnat
present participlestraining at a gnat
past participlestrained at a gnat
paststrained at a gnat
alternative formstrain out a gnat

Origin of strain at a gnat

From the King James Version of the Bible, verse Matthew 23:24.

Questions about strain at a gnat

What does strain at a gnat mean?
Strain at a gnat means to make a mountain out of a molehill.
What part of speech is strain at a gnat?
Strain at a gnat is a verb.
What is the past tense of strain at a gnat?
The past tense of strain at a gnat is strained at a gnat.

Words near strain at a gnat in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: strain at a gnat (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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