strict

/strɪkt/
/strɪkt/
IPA guide

Other forms: strictest; stricter

Strict describes someone who sticks to a particular set of rules. If your math teacher is strict, it means that she expects her rules to be followed to the letter.

The adjective strict always has to do with rules. Your strict parents enforced rules and expected you to obey them. Your cousin might be a strict vegetarian who always follows her own rules about what to eat. Strict laws demand to be followed, and a strict follower of the First Amendment supports free speech no matter what. The Latin root of strict is strictus, which means "drawn together, tight, or rigid." A rigid adherence to rules is exactly what makes someone strict.

Definitions of strict
  1. adjective
    rigidly accurate; allowing no deviation from a standard
    “a strict vegetarian”
    synonyms: rigorous
    exact
    marked by strict and particular and complete accordance with fact
  2. adjective
    incapable of compromise or flexibility
    synonyms: rigid
    intolerant
    unwilling to tolerate difference of opinion
  3. adjective
    characterized by strictness, severity, or restraint
    synonyms: nonindulgent
    abstemious
    sparing in consumption of especially food and drink
    austere, stern
    of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor; forbidding in aspect
    blue, puritanic, puritanical
    morally rigorous and strict
    corrective, disciplinal, disciplinary
    designed to promote discipline
    monkish
    befitting a monk; inclined to self-denial
    renunciant, renunciative, self-abnegating, self-denying
    used especially of behavior
    self-disciplined, self-restraining
    used of nonindulgent persons
    severe, spartan
    very harsh or strict, especially when dealing with others
  4. adjective
    severe and unremitting in making demands
    “strict standards”
    synonyms: exacting, stern
    demanding
    requiring more than usually expected or thought due; especially great patience and effort and skill
  5. adjective
    (of rules) stringently enforced
    synonyms: hard-and-fast
    invariable
    not liable to or capable of change
Pronunciation
US
/strɪkt/
UK
/strɪkt/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘strict'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
Word Family

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