the quality or state of being strong; bodily or muscular power; vigor.
2.
mental power, force, or vigor.
3.
moral power, firmness, or courage.
4.
power by reason of influence, authority, resources, numbers, etc.
5.
number, as of personnel or ships in a force or body: a regiment with a strength of 3000.
6.
effective force, potency, or cogency, as of inducements or arguments: the strength of his plea.
7.
power of resisting force, strain, wear, etc.
8.
vigor of action, language, feeling, etc.
9.
the effective or essential properties characteristic of a beverage, chemical, or the like: The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.
10.
a particular proportion or concentration of these properties; intensity, as of light, color, sound, flavor, or odor: coffee of normal strength.
11.
something or someone that gives one strength or is a source of power or encouragement; sustenance: The Bible was her strength and joy.
12.
power to rise or remain firm in prices: Stocks continued to show strength. The pound declined in strength.
—Idiom
13.
on the strength of, on the basis of; relying on: He was accepted by the college on the strength of ardent personal recommendations.
[Origin: bef. 900; ME strengthe, OE strengthu; see strong, -th1]
—Synonyms 4.Strength,power,force,might suggest capacity to do something. Strength is inherent capacity to manifest energy, to endure, and to resist. Power is capacity to do work and to act. Force is the exercise of power: One has the power to do something. He exerts force when he does it. He has sufficient strength to complete it. Might is power or strength in a great or overwhelming degree: the might of an army. 9. potency. 10. brightness, loudness, vividness, pungency.
The ability to maintain a moral or intellectual position firmly.
Capacity or potential for effective action: a show of strength.
The number of people constituting a normal or ideal organization: The police force has been at half strength since the budget cuts.
Military capability in terms of personnel and materiel: an army of fearsome strength.
A source of power or force.
One that is regarded as the embodiment of protective or supportive power; a support or mainstay.
An attribute or quality of particular worth or utility; an asset.
Degree of concentration, distillation, or saturation; potency.
Operative effectiveness or potency.
Intensity, as of sound or light.
Intensity or vehemence, as of emotion or language.
A source of power or force.
One that is regarded as the embodiment of protective or supportive power; a support or mainstay.
An attribute or quality of particular worth or utility; an asset.
Degree of concentration, distillation, or saturation; potency.
Operative effectiveness or potency.
Intensity, as of sound or light.
Intensity or vehemence, as of emotion or language.
Degree of intensity, force, effectiveness, or potency in terms of a particular property, as:
Degree of concentration, distillation, or saturation; potency.
Operative effectiveness or potency.
Intensity, as of sound or light.
Intensity or vehemence, as of emotion or language.
Effective or binding force; efficacy: the strength of an argument.
Firmness of or a continuous rising tendency in prices, as on the stock market.
Games Power derived from the value of playing cards held.
[Middle English, from Old English strengthu.]
Synonyms: These nouns denote the capacity to act or work effectively. Strength refers especially to physical, mental, or moral robustness or vigor: "enough work to do, and strength enough to do the work" (Rudyard Kipling).
Power is the ability to do something and especially to produce an effect: "I do not think the United States would come to an end if we lost our power to declare an Act of Congress void" (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.)
Might often implies abundant or extraordinary power: "He could defend the island against the whole might of the German Air Force" (Winston S. Churchill).
Energy refers especially to a latent source of power: "The same energy of character which renders a man a daring villain would have rendered him useful to society, had that society been well organized" (Mary Wollstonecraft).
Force is the application of power or strength: "the overthrow of our institutions by force and violence" (Charles Evans Hughes).
Usage Note: Although the word strength is not spelled with a k, it is most often pronounced (strěngkth), with a (k) sound inserted between the (ng) and the (th). This intrusive (k) occurs for a simple reason: In making the transition from the voiced velar nasal (ng) to the voiceless dental fricative (th), speakers naturally produce the voiceless velar stop (k), which is made at the same place in the mouth as (ng) but is voiceless like (th). Other words with intrusive consonants include warmth, which may sound like it is spelled warmpth, and prince, which may sound like prints. The pronunciation (strěnth), which is made with (n) before (th), arises by the phonological process of assimilation. The velar (ng) moves forward in the mouth, becoming (n) before (th), which is made at the front of the mouth. Criticized in the past as sloppy, this pronunciation is now generally regarded as a standard, although less common, variant. The similar pronunciation of length is now also considered acceptable.
O.E. strengþu "power, force, vigor, moral resistance," from P.Gmc. *strangitho (cf. O.H.G. strengida "strength"), in gradational relationship to the root of strong. Verb strengthen is recorded from c.1300.
the property of being physically or mentally strong; "fatigue sapped his strength" [ant: weakness]
2.
capability in terms of personnel and materiel that affect the capacity to fight a war; "we faced an army of great strength"; "politicians have neglected our military posture" [syn: military capability]
3.
physical energy or intensity; "he hit with all the force he could muster"; "it was destroyed by the strength of the gale"; "a government has not the vitality and forcefulness of a living man" [syn: force]
4.
an asset of special worth or utility; "cooking is his forte" [syn: forte] [ant: weak point]
5.
the power to induce the taking of a course of action or the embracing of a point of view by means of argument or entreaty; "the strength of his argument settled the matter" [syn: persuasiveness] [ant: unpersuasiveness]
6.
the amount of energy transmitted (as by acoustic or electromagnetic radiation); "he adjusted the intensity of the sound"; "they measured the station's signal strength" [syn: intensity]
7.
capacity to produce strong physiological or chemical effects; "the toxin's potency"; "the strength of the drinks" [syn: potency]
8.
the condition of financial success; "the strength of the company's stock in recent weeks" [ant: weakness]
9.
permanence by virtue of the power to resist stress or force; "they advertised the durability of their products" [syn: lastingness]
Force\, n. [F. force, LL. forcia, fortia, fr. L. fortis strong. See Fort, n.]1. Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigor; might; often, an unusual degree of strength or energy; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect; especially, power to persuade, or convince, or impose obligation; pertinency; validity; special signification; as, the force of an appeal, an argument, a contract, or a term. He was, in the full force of the words, a good man. --Macaulay. 2. Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion. Which now they hold by force, and not by right. --Shak. 3. Strength or power for war; hence, a body of land or naval combatants, with their appurtenances, ready for action; -- an armament; troops; warlike array; -- often in the plural; hence, a body of men prepared for action in other ways; as, the laboring force of a plantation. Is Lucius general of the forces? --Shak. 4. (Law) (a) Strength or power exercised without law, or contrary to law, upon persons or things; violence. (b) Validity; efficacy. --Burrill. 5. (Physics) Any action between two bodies which changes, or tends to change, their relative condition as to rest or motion; or, more generally, which changes, or tends to change, any physical relation between them, whether mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic, or of any other kind; as, the force of gravity; cohesive force; centrifugal force. Animal force (Physiol.), muscular force or energy. Catabiotic force [Gr. ? down (intens.) + ? life.] (Biol.), the influence exerted by living structures on adjoining cells, by which the latter are developed in harmony with the primary structures. Centrifugal force, Centripetal force, Coercive force, etc. See under Centrifugal, Centripetal, etc. Composition of forces, Correlation of forces, etc. See under Composition, Correlation, etc. Force and arms [trans. of L. vi et armis] (Law), an expression in old indictments, signifying violence. In force, or Of force, of unimpaired efficacy; valid; of full virtue; not suspended or reversed. "A testament is of force after men are dead." --Heb. ix. 17. Metabolic force (Physiol.), the influence which causes and controls the metabolism of the body. No force, no matter of urgency or consequence; no account; hence, to do no force, to make no account of; not to heed. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Of force, of necessity; unavoidably; imperatively. "Good reasons must, of force, give place to better." --Shak. Plastic force (Physiol.), the force which presumably acts in the growth and repair of the tissues. Vital force (Physiol.), that force or power which is inherent in organization; that form of energy which is the cause of the vital phenomena of the body, as distinguished from the physical forces generally known. Syn: Strength; vigor; might; energy; stress; vehemence; violence; compulsion; coaction; constraint; coercion. Usage: Force, Strength. Strength looks rather to power as an inward capability or energy. Thus we speak of the strength of timber, bodily strength, mental strength, strength of emotion, etc. Force, on the other hand, looks more to the outward; as, the force of gravitation, force of circumstances, force of habit, etc. We do, indeed, speak of strength of will and force of will; but even here the former may lean toward the internal tenacity of purpose, and the latter toward the outward expression of it in action. But, though the two words do in a few cases touch thus closely on each other, there is, on the whole, a marked distinction in our use of force and strength. "Force is the name given, in mechanical science, to whatever produces, or can produce, motion." --Nichol. Thy tears are of no force to mollify This flinty man. --Heywood. More huge in strength than wise in works he was. --Spenser. Adam and first matron Eve Had ended now their orisons, and found Strength added from above, new hope to spring Out of despair. --Milton.
Strength\, n. [OE. strengthe, AS. streng[eth]u, fr. strang strong. See Strong.]1. The quality or state of being strong; ability to do or to bear; capacity for exertion or endurance, whether physical, intellectual, or moral; force; vigor; power; as, strength of body or of the arm; strength of mind, of memory, or of judgment. All his [Samson's] strength in his hairs were. --Chaucer. Thou must outlive Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty. --Milton. 2. Power to resist force; solidity or toughness; the quality of bodies by which they endure the application of force without breaking or yielding; -- in this sense opposed to frangibility; as, the strength of a bone, of a beam, of a wall, a rope, and the like. "The brittle strength of bones." --Milton. 3. Power of resisting attacks; impregnability. "Our castle's strength will laugh a siege to scorn." --Shak. 4. That quality which tends to secure results; effective power in an institution or enactment; security; validity; legal or moral force; logical conclusiveness; as, the strength of social or legal obligations; the strength of law; the strength of public opinion; strength of evidence; strength of argument. 5. One who, or that which, is regarded as embodying or affording force, strength, or firmness; that on which confidence or reliance is based; support; security. God is our refuge and strength. --Ps. xlvi. 1. What they boded would be a mischief to us, you are providing shall be one of our principal strengths. --Sprat. Certainly there is not a greater strength against temptation. --Jer. Taylor. 6. Force as measured; amount, numbers, or power of any body, as of an army, a navy, and the like; as, what is the strength of the enemy by land, or by sea? 7. Vigor or style; force of expression; nervous diction; -- said of literary work. And praise the easy vigor of a life Where Denham's strength and Waller's sweetness join. --Pope. 8. Intensity; -- said of light or color. Bright Ph[oe]bus in his strength. --Shak. 9. Intensity or degree of the distinguishing and essential element; spirit; virtue; excellence; -- said of liquors, solutions, etc.; as, the strength of wine or of acids. 10. A strong place; a stronghold. [Obs.] --Shak. On, or Upon, the strength of, in reliance upon. "The allies, after a successful summer, are too apt, upon the strength of it, to neglect their preparations for the ensuing campaign." --Addison. Syn: Force; robustness; toughness; hardness; stoutness; brawniness; lustiness; firmness; puissance; support; spirit; validity; authority. See Force.
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