"strained" in the verb sense
1. strive, reach, strain
to exert much effort or energy
"straining our ears to hear"
2. try, strain, stress
test the limits of
"You are trying my patience!"
3. strain, extend
use to the utmost exert vigorously or to full capacity
"He really extended himself when he climbed Kilimanjaro"
"Don't strain your mind too much"
4. sift, sieve, strain
separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements
"sift the flour"
5. tense, strain, tense up
cause to be tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious
"he got a phone call from his lawyer that tensed him up"
6. strain, tense
become stretched or tense or taut
"the bodybuilder's neck muscles tensed"
"the rope strained when the weight was attached"
7. filter, filtrate, strain, separate out, filter out
remove by passing through a filter
"filter out the impurities"
8. puree, strain
rub through a strainer or process in an electric blender
"puree the vegetables for the baby"
9. deform, distort, strain
alter the shape of (something) by stress
"His body was deformed by leprosy"
"strained" in the adjective sense
1. labored, laboured, strained
lacking natural ease
"a labored style of debating"
2. strained
showing signs of mental and emotional tension
"her voice was strained as she asked the question"
3. constrained, forced, strained
lacking spontaneity not natural
"a constrained smile"
"forced heartiness"
"a strained smile"
4. agonistic, strained
struggling for effect
"agonistic poses"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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