straining

1. 1.

   taxing to the utmost; testing powers of endurance

   “his final, straining burst of speed”

   “a strenuous task”

   “your willingness after these six arduous days to remain here”

   Synonymsarduousstrenuous

   Similareffortful

Other forms of straining

plural

strainings·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about straining

What does straining mean?

straining means "an intense or violent exertion". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in straining?

straining has 2 syllables: strai-ning. The stress falls on "strai". In IPA it is /ˈstɹeɪnɪŋ/.

What is another word for straining?

Close synonyms include strain, distortion, overrefinement, torture, twisting. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is straining a common word?

straining is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with straining?

1 word rhymes with straining. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.