Strides

How to spell strides

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce strides

What does strides mean?

1. nounLong steps taken in walking, or, figuratively, units of notable progress.
2. verbWalks with long, decisive steps.

Strides in a sentence

• noun

  The company has made huge strides in cutting its costs this year.

• verb

  She strides confidently into the meeting room each morning.

• noun

  He crossed the office in a few long strides to answer the phone.

• verb

  The coach strides along the touchline shouting instructions.

Where does strides come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the plural noun and the third-person singular verb form of 'stride', which descends from the Old English verb 'stridan', meaning 'to straddle' or 'to stand or walk with the legs wide apart'. The word belongs to a family of Germanic relatives, including the Dutch 'schrijden' and the German 'schreiten', both carrying the same sense of stepping out. For much of its early life the word kept that idea of straddling, and only gradually narrowed to mean taking long, measured steps in walking. From the literal sense of a long pace came the figurative one of progress: to 'make strides' is to advance noticeably, as if covering ground quickly. The spelling stays refreshingly regular, with the silent 'e' of the base form dropped before the simple 's' ending.

How the word is built

• stride (root: a long step)
• -s (plural noun / third-person singular verb)