strict

Pronunciation

• IPA: /stɹɪkt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin strictus (“drawn together, tight, rigid”),^[2][3][4] the past participle of stringere (“to draw or bind tight”) (see strain).^[2][3][5] It is a doublet of strait.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of an opening, narrow or drawn in: probably before 1425, in a translation of Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie;^[2] the early 15th century in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The original physical senses, tight, narrow or taut, are obsolete.^[3][6] Stringent and rigorous, of laws, and stern in morality are first recorded in 1578.^[2][3] Exact and careful in general is by the 1590s,^[3] and requiring close effort, as a strict examination, is first found in Shakespeare's 1 Henry IV (1596).^[2] Absolute or complete, as strict silence, is by the 1580s,^[3] and strict tempo in dance music by 1936.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1425 – narrow.^[2]
• 1578 – rigorous; stern.^[2]
• 1580s – absolute.^[3]
• 1596 – requiring close effort.^[2]
• 1936 – strict tempo.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Requiring that rules be obeyed exactly; stern or severe: a strict teacher.
2. Closely followed or enforced: strict rules.
3. Exact or precise: in the strict sense.
4. Complete or absolute: in strict confidence.

Word family

• strictly
• strictness
• overstrict
• superstrict
• unstrict
• strict liability

Related words

• stricture
• stringent
• strain
• strait
• restrict
• constrict
• district

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press