strand - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

A single hair, a noodle, even a line of thought — any of these things could be called a strand, a long thin length of something.

The noun strand describes things that are long and thin like a rope, or a strand of spaghetti, hair, or thread. Strands are often twisted together to form thicker, stronger things like cables. As a verb, the meaning is very different: "to leave helpless," like unreliable cars that strand their drivers, or a snowstorm that strands people at airports.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: strand

1	n v	a poetic term for a shore (as the area periodically covered and uncovered by the tides) drive (a vessel) ashore
2	n	line consisting of a complex of fibers or filaments that are twisted together to form a thread or a rope or a cable

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: strand

1

n a poetic term for a shore (as the area periodically covered and uncovered by the tides)

Type of:: shore
the land along the edge of a body of water

v drive (a vessel) ashore

Type of:: land
bring ashore

v bring to the ground

Synonyms:: ground, run aground

Type of:: land
bring ashore

v leave stranded or isolated with little hope of rescue

Synonyms:: maroon

Type of:: abandon, desert, desolate, forsake
leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch

2

n line consisting of a complex of fibers or filaments that are twisted together to form a thread or a rope or a cable

Types:: ply
one of the strands twisted together to make yarn or rope or thread; often used in combination; rope yarn
the strands out of which ropes are made

Type of:: line
something (as a cord or rope) that is long and thin and flexible

n a pattern forming a unity within a larger structural whole

“he tried to pick up the strands of his former life”

“I could hear several melodic strands simultaneously”

Type of:: form, pattern, shape
a perceptual structure

n a very slender natural or synthetic fiber

Synonyms:: fibril, filament

Types:: show 10 types...; hide 10 types...; barb
one of the parallel filaments projecting from the main shaft of a feather; cobweb, gossamer
filaments from a web that was spun by a spider; chromatid
one of two identical strands into which a chromosome splits during mitosis; myofibril, myofibrilla, sarcostyle
one of many contractile filaments that make up a striated muscle fiber; rhizoid
any of various slender filaments that function as roots in mosses and ferns and fungi etc; hypha
any of the threadlike filaments forming the mycelium of a fungus; paraphysis
a sterile simple or branched filament or hair borne among sporangia; may be pointed or clubbed; conidiophore
a specialized fungal hypha that produces conidia; Rhizopus stolonifer, leak fungus, ring rot fungus
fungus causing soft watery rot in fruits and vegetables and rings of dry rot around roots of sweet potatoes; rhizomorph
a dense mass of hyphae forming a root-like structure characteristic of many fungi

Type of:: fiber, fibre
a slender and greatly elongated substance capable of being spun into yarn

n a necklace made by a stringing objects together

“a strand of pearls”

Synonyms:: chain, string

Type of:: necklace
jewelry consisting of a cord or chain (often bearing gems) worn about the neck as an ornament (especially by women)