strike
Other forms: striking; strikes; stricken
At its most basic, strike means to hit. If you strike someone, you hit them with your hand or a weapon. If lightning strikes, it makes contact. If you strike out on a trip, you're "hitting" the road. If you strike gold, you've "struck it rich"!
Strike can also mean not to hit, as in miss –– as in "three strikes and you're out." That meaning might have evolved from strike meaning to cross off, as in "If you don't come to practice, coach will strike your name from the starting lineup." It might also have led to the idea of a labor strike. If employees want to protest their work conditions, they go on strike, or refuse to work until conditions improve.
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deliver a sharp blow, as with the hand, fist, or weapon“the opponent refused to strike”synonyms: zonktypes:jabstrike or punch with quick and short blowsspurstrike with a spurhewstrike with an axe; cut down, strikesideswipestrike from the sidebeathit repeatedlybeatstrike (a part of one's own body) repeatedly, as in great emotion or in accompaniment to musicsclaffstrike (the ground) in making a sclaffcloutstrike hard, especially with the fistchopstrike sharply, as in some sportsslaphit with something flat, like a paddle or the open handsclaffstrike (a golf ball) such that the ground is scraped firstheadbuttbutt with the headsubmarinebring down with a blow to the legspercussstrike or tap firmlysnaghew jaggedlyfullbeat for the purpose of cleaning and thickeningbeatstrike (water or bushes) repeatedly to rouse animals for huntingbeetlebeat with a beetlebastinadobeat somebody on the soles of the feetwhangbeat with forcepastehit with the fistsknockrap with the knuckleshammerbeat with or as if with a hammerurticatewhip with or as with nettlestype of:touchmake physical contact with, come in contact with
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hit against; come into sudden contact with“He struck the table with his elbow”synonyms: collide with, hit, impinge on, run intozonkdeliver a sharp blow, as with the hand, fist, or weapontypes:stubstrike (one's toe) accidentally against an objectpinghit with a pinging noiserear-endcollide with the rear end ofbroadsidecollide with the broad side ofconnectland on or hit solidlyspatstrike with a sound like that of falling rainthudstrike with a dull soundbottomstrike the ground, as with a ship's bottombottom outhit the groundglancehit at an anglesmashcollide or strike violently and suddenlyshockcollide violentlytype of:touchmake physical contact with, come in contact with
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drive something violently into a location
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pierce with force
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make a strategic, offensive, assault against an enemy, opponent, or a target“The Germans struck Poland on Sept. 1, 1939”“We must strike the enemy's oil fields”“in the fifth inning, the Giants struck, sending three runners home to win the game 5 to 2”synonyms: hit
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affect or afflict suddenly, usually adversely
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cause to experience suddenly
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touch or seem as if touching visually or audibly
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have an emotional or cognitive impact upon“This behavior struck me as odd”types:infectaffect in a contagious waysurprisecause to be surprisedawakenmake awareengraveimpress or affect deeplystrike dumbrender speechless, as by surprising or shockingzapstrike suddenly and with forcejaraffect in a disagreeable waysmiteaffect suddenly with deep feelingcloudmake gloomy or depressedpiercemove or affect (a person's emotions or bodily feelings) deeply or sharplyimpressimpress positivelymovearouse sympathy or compassion insaddenmake unhappyalienatemake withdrawn or isolated or emotionally dissociatedexplode a bombshellutter or do something surprisingcatchdiscover or come upon accidentally, suddenly, or unexpectedly; catch somebody doing something or in a certain stateagitate, charge, charge up, commove, excite, rouse, turn oncause to be agitated, excited, or rousedjoltdisturb (someone's) composurecark, disorder, disquiet, distract, perturb, trouble, unhingedisturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmedprepossessmake a positive impression (on someone) beforehandwowimpress greatlygetevoke an emotional responsedistresscause mental pain toball over, blow out of the water, floor, shock, startle, take abacksurprise greatly; knock someone's socks off
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attain
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arrive at after reckoning, deliberating, and weighing“strike a balance”“strike a bargain”type of:figure out, lick, puzzle out, solve, work, work outfind the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of
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occupy or take on
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find unexpectedly“she struck a goldmine”“The hikers finally struck the main path to the lake”synonyms: attain, chance on, chance upon, come across, come upon, discover, fall upon, happen upon, light upon
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produce by manipulating keys or strings of musical instruments, also metaphorically
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form by stamping, punching, or printing
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produce by ignition or a blow
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cause to form (an electric arc) between electrodes of an arc lamp
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remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line
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indicate (a certain time) by striking
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smooth with a strickle
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an attack that is intended to seize or inflict damage on or destroy an objective“the strike was scheduled to begin at dawn”types:first strikethe initial use of nuclear weapons to attack a country that also has nuclear weapons; considered feasible only when the attacker can destroy the other country's ability to retaliatesurgical strikean attack (usually without prior warning) intended to deal only with a specific targetpreventive attack, preventive strikea strike that is carried out in order to deter expected aggression by hostile forces
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a gentle blow
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a conspicuous success
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stop work in order to press demands
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a group's refusal to work in protest against low pay or bad work conditions“the strike lasted more than a month before it was settled”synonyms: work stoppagetypes:sit-down, sit-down strikea strike in which workers refuse to leave the workplace until a settlement is reachedsympathetic strike, sympathy strikea strike in support of other workers who are on strike; a strike not resulting from direct grievances against the workers' employerwalkouta strike in which the workers walk outwildcat strikea strike undertaken by workers without approval from the officials of their uniontype of:job actiona temporary action by workers to protest management decision or to make demands
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a score in tenpins: knocking down all ten with the first ball“he finished with three strikes in the tenth frame”synonyms: ten-striketype of:scorethe act of scoring in a game or sport
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(baseball) a pitch that the batter swings at and misses, or that the batter hits into foul territory, or that the batter does not swing at but the umpire judges to be in the area over home plate and between the batter's knees and shoulders
- MLA
- APA
- Chicago
Vocabulary lists containing strike
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