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
- Requiring that rules be obeyed exactly; stern or severe: a strict teacher.
- Closely followed or enforced: strict rules.
- Exact or precise: in the strict sense.
- Complete or absolute: in strict confidence.
Word family
- strictly
- strictness
- overstrict
- superstrict
- unstrict
- strict liability
Related words
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press