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strict

adjective

Simple meaning

Governed or governing by exact rules.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

strikt
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈstɹɪkt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Governed or governing by exact rules; observing exact rules; severe; rigorous.

  2. Exact; accurate; precise; rigorously particular.

  3. Rigidly interpreted; exactly limited; confined; restricted.

  4. Severe in discipline.

  5. Strained; drawn close; tight.

  6. Tense; not relaxed.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Governed or governing by exact rules; observing exact rules; severe; rigorous.

Used this way, strict is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Official and authoritative
Usage feel
Formal and precise

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use strict

  • “My parents are very strict about bedtime during the school week.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Governed

strict observance

Severe

strict discipline

Strained

strict scrutiny

Other combinations

strict constructionstrict sensestrict adherencestrict controlstrict attention

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • strictlyadverbDerived adverb

    Restricted to something.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: governed or governing by exact rules

rigid

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.