Rope vs. String — What's the Difference?

A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibers or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have tensile strength and so can be used for dragging and lifting.

A thin cord of light fibers.

A flexible heavy cord of tightly intertwined hemp or other fiber.

Can be used for securing light objects.

A string of items attached in one line, especially by twisting or braiding

Material made of drawn-out, twisted fiber, used for fastening, tying, or lacing.

A sticky glutinous formation of stringy matter in a liquid.

A strand or cord of such material.

A cord with a noose at one end for hanging a person.

A cord stretched on an instrument and struck, plucked, or bowed to produce tones.

Execution or death by hanging

Strings The section of a band or orchestra composed of stringed instruments, especially violins, violas, cellos, and double basses.

A lasso or lariat.

Strings Stringed instruments or their players considered as a group.

Ropes(Sports) Several cords strung between poles to enclose a boxing or wrestling ring.

Something resembling a string or appearing as a long, thin line

Ropes(Informal) Specialized procedures or details

A plant fiber.

(Baseball) A line drive.

(Physics) One of the extremely minute objects that form the basis of string theory.

To tie, fasten, or attach with a rope or other cord.

A set of objects threaded together or attached on a string

To enclose, separate, or partition with a rope or other cord

A number of objects arranged in a line

To catch with a rope or lasso.

(Computers) A set of consecutive characters.

(Informal) To persuade or manipulate (someone)

A series of similar or related acts, events, or items

(uncountable) Thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or strands of other cordage that are twisted together to form a stronger line.

A set of animals, especially racehorses, belonging to a single owner; a stable.

(countable) An individual length of such material.

A scattered group of businesses under a single ownership or management

A cohesive strand of something.

A group of players ranked according to ability within a team

A shot of semen that a man releases during ejaculation.

A complete game consisting of ten frames in bowling.

(dated) A continuous stream.

A stringboard.

(baseball) A hard line drive.

A stringcourse.

(ceramics) A long thin segment of soft clay, either extruded or formed by hand.

(Games) The balk line in billiards.

(computer science) A data structure resembling a string, using a concatenation tree in which each leaf represents a character.

(Informal) A limiting or hidden condition. Often used in the plural

A kind of chaff material dropped to interfere with radar consisting of foil strips with paper chutes attached.

To fit or furnish with strings or a string

(Jainism) A unit of distance equivalent to the distance covered in six months by a god flying at ten million miles per second.

To stretch out or extend

(jewelry) A necklace of at least 1 meter in length.

To thread on a string

(nautical) Cordage of at least 1 inch in diameter, or a length of such cordage.

To arrange in a line or series

(archaic) A unit of length equal to 20 feet.

To fasten, tie, or hang with a string or strings

(slang) Rohypnol.

To strip (vegetables) of fibers.

Semen being ejaculated.

To extend or progress in a string, line, or succession

(with "the") Death by hanging.

(countable) A long, thin and flexible structure made from threads twisted together.

(in the plural) The small intestines.

(uncountable) Such a structure considered as a substance.

(transitive) To tie (something) with rope.

(countable) A thread

(transitive) To throw a rope (or something similar, e.g. a lasso, cable, wire, etc.) around (something).

(countable) Any similar long, thin and flexible object.

(intransitive) To climb by means of a rope or ropes.

(musical instrument) A segment of wire (typically made of plastic or metal) or other material used as vibrating element on a musical instrument.

(intransitive) To be formed into rope; to draw out or extend into a filament or thread.

(sports) A length of nylon or other material on the head of a racquet.

To commit suicide, particularly by hanging.

A thread or cord on which a number of objects or parts are strung or arranged in close and orderly succession; hence, a line or series of things arranged on a thread, or as if so arranged.

A large, stout cord, usually one not less than an inch in circumference, made of strands twisted or braided together. It differs from cord, line, and string, only in its size. See Cordage.

(countable) A cohesive substance taking the form of a string.

A row or string consisting of a number of things united, as by braiding, twining, etc.; as, a rope of onions.

(countable) A series of items or events.

The small intestines; as, the ropes of birds.

(countable) The members of a sports team or squad regarded as most likely to achieve success. (Perhaps metaphorical as the "strings" that hold the squad together.) Often first string, second string etc.

To be formed into rope; to draw out or extend into a filament or thread, as by means of any glutinous or adhesive quality.

(countable) In various games and competitions, a certain number of turns at play, of rounds, etc.

To bind, fasten, or tie with a rope or cord; as, to rope a bale of goods.

(collective) A drove of horses, or a group of racehorses kept by one owner or at one stable.

To connect or fasten together, as a party of mountain climbers, with a rope.

An ordered sequence of text characters stored consecutively in memory and capable of being processed as a single entity.

To partition, separate, or divide off, by means of a rope, so as to include or exclude something; as, to rope in, or rope off, a plot of ground; to rope out a crowd.

A stringed instrument.

To lasso (a steer, horse).

The stringed instruments as a section of an orchestra, especially those played by a bow, or the persons playing those instruments.

To draw, as with a rope; to entice; to inveigle; to decoy; as, to rope in customers or voters.

The conditions and limitations in a contract collectively.

To prevent from winning (as a horse), by pulling or curbing.

The main object of study in string theory, a branch of theoretical physics.

A strong line

(slang) Cannabis or marijuana.

Street names for flunitrazepan

(billiards) Part of the game of billiards, where the order of the play is determined by testing who can get a ball closest to the bottom rail by shooting it onto the end rail.

Catch with a lasso;

The buttons strung on a wire by which the score is kept.

Fasten with a rope;

The points made in a game of billiards.

A strong cord of twisted fibers.

The line from behind and over which the cue ball must be played after being out of play, as by being pocketed or knocked off the table; also called the string line.

Used for heavy-duty binding or climbing.

A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are held together.

Can be braided or twisted for strength.

(archaic) A fibre, as of a plant; a little fibrous root.

A tool in rescue operations.

(archaic) A nerve or tendon of an animal body.

Integral in nautical applications.

(shipbuilding) An inside range of ceiling planks, corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and bolted to it.

(botany) The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericarp of leguminous plants.

(mining) A small, filamentous ramification of a metallic vein.

(architecture) A stringcourse.

A hoax; a fake story.

Synonym of stable

(oil drilling) A column of drill pipe that transmits drilling fluid (via the mud pumps) and torque (via the kelly drive or top drive) to the drill bit.

(transitive) To put (items) on a string.

(transitive) To put strings on (something).

(intransitive) To form into a string or strings, as a substance which is stretched, or people who are moving along, etc.

To drive the ball against the end of the table and back, in order to determine which player is to open the game.

(birdwatching) To deliberately state that a certain bird is present when it is not; to knowingly mislead other birders about the occurrence of a bird, especially a rarity; to misidentify a common bird as a rare species.

A small cord, a line, a twine, or a slender strip of leather, or other substance, used for binding together, fastening, or tying things; a cord, larger than a thread and smaller than a rope; as, a shoe string; a bonnet string; a silken string.

A thread or cord on which a number of objects or parts are strung or arranged in close and orderly succession; hence, a line or series of things arranged on a thread, or as if so arranged; a succession; a concatenation; a chain; as, a string of shells or beads; a string of dried apples; a string of houses; a string of arguments.

A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are held together.

The cord of a musical instrument, as of a piano, harp, or violin; specifically (pl.), the stringed instruments of an orchestra, in distinction from the wind instruments; as, the strings took up the theme.

The line or cord of a bow.

A fiber, as of a plant; a little, fibrous root.

A nerve or tendon of an animal body.

An inside range of ceiling planks, corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and bolted to it.

The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericap of leguminous plants, and which is readily pulled off; as, the strings of beans.

A small, filamentous ramification of a metallic vein.

Same as Stringcourse.

The points made in a game.

In various indoor games, a score or tally, sometimes, as in American billiard games, marked by buttons threaded on a string or wire.

The line from behind and over which the cue ball must be played after being out of play as by being pocketed or knocked off the table; - called also string line.

A hoax; a trumped-up or "fake" story.

A sequence of similar objects or events sufficiently close in time or space to be perceived as a group; a string of accidents; a string of restaurants on a highway.

A one-dimensional string-like mathematical object used as a means of representing the properties of fundamental particles in string theory, one theory of particle physics; such hypothetical objects are one-dimensional and very small (10-33 cm) but exist in more than four spatial dimensions, and have various modes of vibration. Considering particles as strings avoids some of the problems of treating particles as points, and allows a unified treatment of gravity along with the other three forces (electromagnetism, the weak force, and the strong force) in a manner consistent with quantum mechanics. See also string theory.

To furnish with strings; as, to string a violin.

To put in tune the strings of, as a stringed instrument, in order to play upon it.

To put on a string; to file; as, to string beads.

To make tense; to strengthen.

To hoax; josh; jolly; often used with along; as, we strung him along all day until he realized we were kidding.

To form into a string or strings, as a substance which is stretched, or people who are moving along, etc.

A lightweight cord

Stringed instruments that are played with a bow;

A tightly stretched cord of wire or gut, which makes sound when plucked, struck, or bowed

A sequentially ordered set of things or events or ideas in which each successive member is related to the preceding;

A linear sequence of symbols (characters or words or phrases)

A tie consisting of a cord that goes through a seam around an opening;

A collection of objects threaded on a single strand

A necklace made by a stringing objects together;

Thread on or as if on a string;

Add as if on a string;

Move or come along

Stretch out or arrange like a string

String together; tie or fasten with a string;

Remove the stringy parts of;

Provide with strings;

Suitable for binding small items.

Often used in crafting.

A component in musical instruments.

Rope strength is often measured in tensile strength and load capacity.

No, string is too thin and not strong enough for climbing; rope is used instead.

They can be, but ropes are typically made from stronger materials to support greater loads.

No, ropes are too thick and lack the required tension properties that strings provide for instruments.

Yes, strings vary in thickness but are generally much thinner than ropes.

There is no strict boundary, but anything thicker than a 1/4 inch is typically considered a rope.

It's not recommended, as string does not have the same load-bearing capacity as a rope.

A rope is a thick, strong cord made by twisting or braiding fibers together.

String is used for light-duty tasks like tying and crafts.

String is generally not suitable for harsh outdoor activities where a rope would be recommended.

Twine is a type of string, usually thicker and stronger for tasks like gardening.

The longevity of string depends on its material and environment, but it's generally less durable than rope.

Ropes require regular inspection for fraying and damage, and should be stored dry and coiled.

Yes, ropes are specialized by use, such as static ropes for climbing or battle ropes for exercise.

Yes, both ropes and strings can be waterproofed or made from waterproof materials.