# strong

> English word · Adjective · IPA /stɹɒŋ/ · frequency rank #614

## Definitions
1. Capable of producing great physical force.
2. Capable of withstanding great physical force.
3. Possessing power, might, or strength.
4. Determined; unyielding.
5. Highly stimulating to the senses.
6. Having an offensive or intense odor or flavor.
7. Having a high concentration of an essential or active ingredient.
8. Having a high alcoholic content.
9. Inflecting in a different manner than the one called weak, such as Germanic verbs which change vowels.
10. That completely ionizes into anions and cations in a solution.
11. Not easily subdued or taken.
12. Having wealth or resources.
13. Impressive, good.
14. Having a specified number of people or units.
15. Severe; very bad or intense.
16. Having a wide range of logical consequences; widely applicable. (Often contrasted with a weak statement which it implies.)
17. Convincing.

## Etymology
From Middle English strong, strang, from Old English strang (“strong”), from Proto-West Germanic *strang (“severe, strict, rigorous, strong”), from Proto-Germanic *strangaz (“tight, strict, straight, strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“taut, stiff, tight”).
Cognate with Scots strang (“strong”), Saterland Frisian strang, West Frisian string (“austere, strict, harsh, severe, stern, stark, tough”), Dutch streng (“strict, severe, tight”), German streng (“strict, severe, austere”), Danish and Norwegian streng (“strong, hard”), Faroese and Icelandic strangur (“strict”), Norwegian strang (“strong, harsh, bitter”), Swedish sträng, strang (“severe, strict, harsh”), Latin stringō (“tighten”). Doublet of strict and string.

## Easily confused with
- **stung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strong-vs-stung)
- **strung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strong-vs-strung)
- **Stroud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strong-vs-stroud)
- **strove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strong-vs-strove)
- **stronger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strong-vs-stronger)
- **strongly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strong-vs-strongly)
- **song** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/song-vs-strong)
- **stone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stone-vs-strong)
- **sting** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sting-vs-strong)
- **stony** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stony-vs-strong)
- **Seong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seong-vs-strong)
- **spring** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spring-vs-strong)
- **string** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/string-vs-strong)
- **stroke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stroke-vs-strong)
- **strand** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strand-vs-strong)
- **stroll** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stroll-vs-strong)
- **sprung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sprung-vs-strong)
- **sprang** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sprang-vs-strong)
- **strode** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strode-vs-strong)
- **strobe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strobe-vs-strong)

## Common misspellings (10)
`srtong`, `sstrong`, `storng`, `strnog`, `strogn`, `strongg`, `stronng`, `strrong`, `sttrong`, `tsrong`

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