Word.ws English Dictionary

strained

/stɹeɪ̯nd/

strained adjective: forced through a strainer. Also the simple past and past participle of strain.

Adjective

strained (comparative more strained, superlative most strained)

  1. Forced through a strainer.
    • Babies don’t seem to like strained peas, even though the puree is easy for them to eat and digest.
  2. Under tension; tense.
    • Ever since the fight our relationship has been strained.
    • In the summer of 1994, Shaylene’s relationship with her mother was strained. Darlene had recently caught Shaylene smoking marijuana, and the resulting tension prompted her daughter to move out and stay with a friend for weeks.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 Boring, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2026
  3. Not natural or spontaneous but done with effort
    • A strained smile.

Also used as

strained is also the simple past and past participle of strain.

Examples of strained in a sentence

  • I felt some leg pain during the first mile of my run and I strained my calf two miles later.
  • The gale strained the timbers of the ship.
  • Sitting in back, I strained to hear the speaker.

All 40 example sentences with strained

Forms of strained

comparativemore strained
superlativemost strained

Words formed from strained

Phrases with strained

Words that rhyme with strained

25 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about strained

What does strained mean?
Strained means forced through a strainer.
What part of speech is strained?
Strained is an adjective.
How do you pronounce strained?
Strained is pronounced /stɹeɪ̯nd/.

Words near strained in the dictionary

  1. strain relief
  2. strain the potatoes
  3. strainability
  4. strainable
  5. strainably
  6. strained
  7. strained a point
  8. strained at a gnat
  9. strained at the leash
  10. strained courtesy
  11. strained every nerve

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: strained (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-strained.wav.

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