strait means narrow; restricted as to space or room; close. It carries an Arena rating of 1661, earned across 9 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, strait ranks #402 of 17,113 for Most Elegant Words, #1,531 of 17,130 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,181 of 17,123 for Most Malleable Words, #4,508 of 17,122 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
strait is pronounced /stɹeɪt/.
Why “strait” is a great word
Narrow, tight, or restricted, especially in a physical, moral, or rigorous sense. From Middle English streit, from Old French estreit ("narrow, tight"), from Latin strictus ("drawn tight, compressed"), perfect passive participle of stringō ("to draw tight, bind"). Unlike "straight," which charts a direct course without constriction, or "broad," which offers a generous latitude, "strait" is the desperate press of stone walls in a mountain pass, the corset laced until breathing becomes deliberate labor, the tense passage between two towering cliffs where the sea is forced to whisper—the geometry of limitation made absolute, where every inch gained costs something essential.
Etymology
From Middle English streit, from Old French estreit (modern form étroit), from Latin strictus, perfect passive participle of stringō (“compress, tighten”). Doublet of stretto and strict.
adj
- Narrow; restricted as to space or room; close.e.g.“Sweet oil was poured out on thy head
And ran down like cool rain between
The strait close locks it melted in.”
- Righteous, strict.e.g.“to follow the strait and narrow”
- Tight; close; tight-fitting.e.g.“Palamon. […] Stay a little,
Is not this peece too streight?
Arcite. No, no, tis well.”
- Close; intimate; near; familiar.
- Difficult; distressful.
- Parsimonious; stingy; mean.e.g.“[…] I do not ask you much,
I beg cold comfort; and you are so strait
And so ingrateful, you deny me that.”
adv
- Strictly; rigorously.e.g.“Lords, take your places; and, I pray you all,
Proceed no straiter ’gainst our uncle Gloucester
Than from true evidence of good esteem
He be approved in practise culpable.”
noun
- A narrow channel of water connecting two larger bodies of water.e.g.“the Strait of Gibraltar”
- A narrow pass, passage or street.e.g.“He brought him through a darksom narrow strayt,
To a broad gate all built of beaten gold:”
- A neck of land; an isthmus.
- A difficult position.e.g.“to be in dire straits”
verb
- To confine; put to difficulties.
- To tighten.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.