straight
/stɹeɪt/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.04 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
Perfectly horizontal or vertical; not diagonal or oblique.
adj
Describing the bat as held so as not to incline to either side; on, or near a line running between the two wickets.
adj
Having all cylinders in a single straight line; in-line.
adj
adj
Free from dishonesty; honest, law-abiding.
adj
Example Sentences
- "I do not like crooked, twisted, blasted trees. I admire them much more if they are tall, straight and flourishing."
- "“Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.[…]”"
- "The other people, I presume, are supposed to be standing to attention, but they're all smiling at me. The lines are not even straight."
- "Now, as the world knows, the straightest way to the heart of the honest voter is through the women of the land, and the straightest way to the heart of the women is through the children of the land; and one method of winning both, with rural politicians, is to kiss the babies wide and far."
- "He had no time to set himself, but his throw was straight and true. Pick slid in, spikes high, and Schang tagged him in the ribs a foot or two from the plate."
- "Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee."
Etymology
From Middle English streight, streght, streiȝt, the past participle of strecchen (“to stretch”), from Old English streċċan (past participle ġestreaht, ġestreht), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch”). Cognate with Scots straicht (“straight”), Dutch gestrekt (“stretched”), German gestreckt (“stretched”), Danish strakt (“stretched”), Faroese and Norn strekti (“stretched”), Icelandic strekkti (“stretched”), Norwegian strekte (“stretched”), Swedish sträckte (“stretched”). Doublet of straught. Equivalent to stretch + -ed. In some senses, conflated with strait (“narrow, constricted”), which is from Latin strictus via Old French estreit.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
- American usage
- Colloquial
- Slang
- Obsolete
- Informal
- Transitive verb
Inflected Forms
straighter (comparative)
straightest (superlative)
streight (alternative, obsolete)
more straight (comparative)
most straight (superlative)
straights (plural)
straights (present, singular)
straighting (participle, present)
straighted (participle, past)
straighted (past)