# straight

> English word · Adjective · IPA /stɹeɪt/ · frequency rank #979

## Definitions
1. Not crooked, curly, or bent; having a constant direction throughout its length.
2. Direct, undeviating.
3. Perfectly horizontal or vertical; not diagonal or oblique.
4. Describing the bat as held so as not to incline to either side; on, or near a line running between the two wickets.
5. Having all cylinders in a single straight line; in-line.
6. Direct in communication; unevasive, straightforward.
7. Free from dishonesty; honest, law-abiding.
8. Serious rather than comedic.
9. In proper order; as it should be.
10. In a row, in unbroken sequence; consecutive.
11. Describing the sets in a match of which the winner did not lose a single set.
12. Making no exceptions or deviations in one's support of the organization and candidates of a political party.
13. Containing the names of all the regularly nominated candidates of a single party and no others.
14. Conventional; mainstream; socially acceptable.
15. Heterosexual.
16. Occurring between people of opposite sex (sometimes, but not always, specifically between heterosexual people).
17. Related to conventional sexual intercourse.
18. Not using alcohol, drugs, etc.
19. Not plus size; thin.
20. Strait; narrow.
21. Stretched out; fully extended.
22. Thorough; utter; unqualified.
23. Of spirits: undiluted, unmixed; neat.
24. Sent at a full rate for immediate delivery; being a fast telegram.
25. Concerning the property allowing the parallel transport of vectors along a course that keeps tangent vectors remain as such throughout that course (a course which is straight, a straight curve, is a geodesic).
26. OK, all right, fine; in a good state or situation.
27. On good terms.

## 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.
In some senses, conflated with strait (“narrow, constricted”), which is from Latin strictus via Old French estreit.

## Easily confused with
- **strait** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/straight-vs-strait)
- **straighten** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/straight-vs-straighten)
- **straighter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/straight-vs-straighter)
- **starlight** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/starlight-vs-straight)

## Common misspellings (13)
`srtaight`, `sstraight`, `staright`, `stragiht`, `straigght`, `straighht`, `straightt`, `straigth`, `straihgt`, `striaght`, `strraight`, `sttraight`, `tsraight`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/straight