straight
Forms
- Comparative
- straighter
- Superlative
- straightest
- Comparative
- more straight
- Superlative
- most straight
Definitions
1.Not crooked, curly, or bent; having a constant direction throughout its length.
- I do not like crooked, twisted, blasted trees. I admire them much more if they are tall, straight and flourishing.
- 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.
2.Direct, undeviating.
- 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.
3.Perfectly horizontal or vertical; not diagonal or oblique.
- Mr. Coniff: He did not have his hat on straight; that is the one thing, is it?
- There's nothing more annoying than taking a great picture, only to find that the horizon isn't straight.
4.Describing the bat as held so as not to incline to either side; on, or near a line running between the two wickets.
- Steyn continues and it's all a bit more orderly down his end as O'Brien defends the first three balls with a straight bat and a respectful dip of the head.
1.Of a direction relative to the subject, precisely; as if following a direct line.
- The door will be straight ahead of you.
2.Directly; without pause, delay or detour.
- On arriving at work, he went straight to his office.
3.Continuously; without interruption or pause.
- He claims he can hold his breath for three minutes straight.
4.Of speech or information, without prevarication or holding back; directly; straightforwardly; plainly.
- "By ginger, Mudgy, you do go off the handle over nothing. I tell you straight, I was damned annoyed with you this afternoon, going pop like that at a man over nothing."
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1642
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
Antonyms
Synonyms
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.