STRANDS Synonyms: 85 Similar and Opposite Words

strands 1 of 2

noun

plural of strand

as in beaches

the usually sandy or gravelly land bordering a body of water the wishful dream of living an indolent, idyllic existence on some far-off strand

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strands

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of strand

as in wrecks

to cause irreparable damage to (a ship) by running aground or sinking the ghostly remains of ships that had been stranded by the reef

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in leaves

to cause to remain behind he just drove off, stranding her in some dinky town with just a few bucks and the clothes she was wearing

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of strands

Noun

Her flowing braids were twisted into an elegant cascading updo with two skinny strands framing her face. — Bianca Betancourt, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026 Three key strands of PeopleSoft DNA remain in Workday’s corporate composition today. — Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 13 Oct. 2026 At times, Marianne’s second-act emotional breakdown feels siloed from the rest of the picture, but the strands coalesce beautifully in an emotionally overwhelming finale that’s tearjerking, but never manipulative or overly sentimental. — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 13 Oct. 2026 These extremely thin glass strands transmit information as pulses of light. — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 13 Oct. 2026 The market kept its core strands and added ProducerHub, InnoAsia, Doc Square and The A, and these drew people who had never attended a market before. — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026 Need something to keep your strands out of your face during a workout or while running errands? — Essence Wiley, InStyle, 10 Oct. 2026 For the final lift, the company used a specialized strand-jacking system, which raises heavy structures using bundles of steel strands. — New Atlas, 9 Oct. 2026 Williams used R+Co pomade to redirect her hair as new strands came in. — Maggie Ryan, Flow Space, 9 Oct. 2026

Verb

Instead, excess testosterone is converted into dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which causes the hair follicles to become smaller and then the hair strands to become thinner. — Lindsey Bever, Washington Post, 26 Sep. 2026 When a storm strands the family with no wi-fi and no way home, everything changes. — Kevin Giraud, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026 In the ’90s, a plane crash strands them in the Canadian wilderness. — Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Aug. 2026 The formula also prioritizes the actual hair strands with rosemary and biotinoyl tripeptide-1, which both help to strengthen strands to reduce breakage over time. — Essence Wiley, InStyle, 13 June 2026 Detangling sprays can help those who need more assistance coaxing the hair strands apart, and detangling while the hair is wet may assist others in making the process gentle. — William Jones, Ascend Agency, 28 May 2026 The aftermath of one of Otto’s decisions gives Beever as Léna some rich material to work through, but strands Machado-Graner to an extent, including in a short subplot that feels like it was plucked from an entirely different screenplay. — Josh Slater-Williams, IndieWire, 20 May 2026 Whale biologists generally hold that a whale that repeatedly strands itself usually has severe underlying health issues; even towing it back out to deeper waters may not keep it from starving or drowning. — Jessica Camille Aguirre, New Yorker, 2 May 2026 Heart of the Beast centers on a former Army Special Forces soldier (Pitt), who fights for survival with his combat dog after a plane crash strands them in the Alaskan wilderness. — Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 16 Apr. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for strands

Noun

In 2025, Kuznietsov was arrested by Italian police in Rimini – a city in northern Italy known for its sandy beaches and Roman landmarks – and later extradited to Germany.

— Billy Stockwell, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026
Shark sightings at Southern California beaches have surged this year.

— Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of beaches

Verb

If checking your score reliably wrecks your morning, the device isn’t working for you.

— J. David Creswell, The Conversation, 6 Oct. 2026
That’s because even ordinary winds – and far worse, storms and earthquakes – cause tall buildings to sway, which ruins people’s concentration, wrecks their mood, and even exhausts them.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 24 July 2026

Definition of wrecks

Verb

But the federal plan leaves the door open to steeper reductions that Arizona officials warned could be catastrophic and sued over last week.

— Hannah Knowles The Washington Post, Arkansas Online, 19 Oct. 2026
Before any cymbal leaves the factory, a shokunin strikes it and listens, comparing its sound against a pristine reference by ear.

— Matt Alt, Fortune, 18 Oct. 2026

Definition of leaves

Noun

So companies import the heavy mineral sands; separate out various profitable concentrates, including the monazite mineral concentrate; and then process the monazite concentrate to recover the rare-earths.

— Glenn Zorpette, IEEE Spectrum, 15 Oct. 2026
As with their other current CBS hit Elsbeth — and unlike their more creatively unconventional streaming shows The Good Fight and Evil — Cupertino sands down some of the Kings’ jagged edges, aiming for something cuter.

— Noel Murray, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of sands

Noun

But ghost forests have expanded past silver screens and into coastlines across the country.

— Devika Rao, TheWeek, 15 Oct. 2026
The department advised Americans near affected coastlines to move to higher ground and warned that strong currents and unpredictable surges could occur.

— Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of coastlines

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strands

strange

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“Strands.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/strands. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of strands

noun

verb

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