Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Rigorous in the imposition of discipline.
  • adjective Conforming completely to established rule, principle, or condition.
  • adjective Requiring close observance or demanding in expectations: synonym: severe.
  • adjective Carefully maintained or observed.
  • adjective Not loose or vague; exact or precise.
  • adjective Botany Stiff, narrow, and upright.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Drawn tight; tight; close: as, a strict ligature.
  • Tense; stiff: as, a strict or lax fiber.
  • Narrow; restricted; confined; strait.
  • Close; intimate.
  • Absolute; unbroken: as, strict silence.
  • Exact; accurate; careful; rigorously nice: as, words taken in their strictest sense; a strict command.
  • Exacting; rigorous; severe; rigid: as, strict in keeping the Sabbath; a strict disciplinarian.
  • Restricted; taken strictly, narrowly, or exclusively: as, a strict generic or specific diagnosis.
  • In zoology, constricted; narrow or close; straitened; not loose or diffuse: as, the strict stem of some corals.
  • In botany, close or narrow and upright: opposed to lax: said of a stem or an inflorescence.
  • In music, regular; exactly according to rule; without liberties: as, a strict canon or fugue.
  • Synonyms Close, scrupulous, critical.
  • Severe, Rigorous, etc. See austere.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Strained; drawn close; tight.
  • adjective Tense; not relaxed.
  • adjective Exact; accurate; precise; rigorously nice.
  • adjective Governed or governing by exact rules; observing exact rules; severe; rigorous.
  • adjective Rigidly; interpreted; exactly limited; confined; restricted.
  • adjective (Bot.) Upright, or straight and narrow; -- said of the shape of the plants or their flower clusters.
  • adjective (R. C. Ch.) See Observance.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Strained; drawn close; tight.
  • adjective Tense; not relaxed.
  • adjective Exact; accurate; precise; rigorously nice.
  • adjective Governed or governing by exact rules; observing exact rules; severe; rigorous.
  • adjective Rigidly interpreted; exactly limited; confined; restricted.
  • adjective botany Upright, or straight and narrow; — said of the shape of the plants or their flower clusters.
  • adjective Severe in discipline.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective severe and unremitting in making demands
  • adjective characterized by strictness, severity, or restraint
  • adjective incapable of compromise or flexibility
  • adjective (of rules) stringently enforced
  • adjective rigidly accurate; allowing no deviation from a standard

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English stricte, narrow, small, from Latin strictus, tight, strict, past participle of stringere, to draw tight; see streig- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin strictus, past participle of stringere ("to draw tight, bind, contract"); see stringent, strain.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word strict.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.