streak

/strik/

/strik/

Other forms: streaks; streaked; streaking

A streak is a mark or characteristic. What makes you keep trying to wipe the streak of permanent marker off the white couch — your clean streak or your stubborn streak?

Like a mark or stain, a streak in a person is a characteristic or strain that runs through them — like a mean streak. The noun streak can also refer to an unbroken chain of events — you’ll want a lucky streak to keep going and a losing streak to come to a quick end. As a verb, to streak means to dash, sometimes without clothes. If you talk a blue streak, you’ve got a lot to say, very quickly.

Definitions of streak

1. noun

   a narrow marking of a different color or texture from the background
   synonyms: bar, stripe

   types:

   band, banding, stria, striation

   a stripe or stripes of contrasting color

   collar

   (zoology) an encircling band or marking around the neck of any animal

   stretch mark

   a narrow band resulting from tension on the skin (as on abdominal skin after pregnancy)

   type of:

   marking

   a pattern of marks
2. noun

   a distinctive characteristic
   “he has a stubborn streak”

   “a streak of wildness”

   type of:

   characteristic, discriminant

   a distinguishing quality
3. noun

   a sudden flash (as of lightning)
   type of:

   flash

   a sudden intense burst of radiant energy
4. noun

   an unbroken series of events
   “had a streak of bad luck”

   synonyms: run

   types:

   losing streak

   a streak of losses

   winning streak

   a streak of wins

   type of:

   succession

   a group of people or things arranged or following in order
5. verb

   mark with spots or blotches of different color or shades of color as if stained
   synonyms: blotch, mottle

   type of:

   color, color in, colorise, colorize, colour, colour in, colourise, colourize

   add color to
6. verb

   move quickly in a straight line
   “The plane streaked across the sky”

   type of:

   move

   move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion
7. verb

   run naked in a public place
   type of:

   run

   move fast by using one's feet, with one foot off the ground at any given time