Strand vs. Strip — What's the Difference?
By Maham Liaqat & Urooj Arif — Updated on May 2, 2024
A strand typically refers to a single thin length of something, like fiber or hair, whereas a strip is a long, narrow piece of material, land, or surface.
Difference Between Strand and Strip
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A strand refers to elements that are naturally thin and elongated, such as a strand of hair, thread, or DNA. On the other hand, a strip can be made or cut from broader materials into narrower pieces, like strips of paper or fabric.
When discussing textiles, a strand could be a single thread used in the weave of a fabric, while a strip could be a cut or torn piece of the fabric itself, used for different purposes like crafts or garments.
In terms of geography, the term strand can sometimes refer to a beach or shore, a thin stretch of land by the water. In contrast, a strip often refers to a long, narrow piece of land, such as a strip of parkland or an urban strip developed with businesses.
In biology, a strand can refer to a single filament of natural substances, like a strand of muscle fiber, whereas a strip is rarely used in biological contexts unless referring to prepared samples or dissected pieces in experiments.
For usage in crafts or construction, a strand would be part of the material, like a strand of yarn in knitting, whereas a strip could be a piece of wood or metal used in building or decorating.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A single thin length of something
A long, narrow piece cut or separated
Common Uses
Hair, thread, DNA, ropes
Paper, fabric, land, metal, wood
Contextual Meaning
Often natural or biological
Typically manufactured or altered
Geographical Usage
Can refer to beach or shore
Refers to narrow pieces of land or zones
Crafting and Construction
Part of the base material (yarn, wire)
Used as a separate piece (wood strip, fabric strip)
Compare with Definitions
Strand
A single thin length of something, often flexible.
She twisted a strand of her hair around her finger.
Strip
A long, narrow piece of material, land, or surface.
He painted a bright red strip on the wall.
Strand
A part of a complex structure resembling a thread.
A strand of DNA is crucial for genetic information.
Strip
A strip of paper or cloth.
She cut a strip of cloth for the banner.
Strand
One of the elements forming a rope or cable.
The rope snapped when several strands frayed.
Strip
A row of buildings or a stretch of road.
The new shopping strip was crowded on opening day.
Strand
A beach or shore.
They walked along the sandy strand at sunset.
Strip
To remove covering or possessions.
The soldiers were ordered to strip their gear for inspection.
Strand
A component of something more complex.
This policy is one strand of our broader strategy.
Strip
A comic strip or sequence of drawings.
He enjoyed reading the daily comic strips in the newspaper.
Strand
Land, typically a beach, bordering a body of water.
Strip
To remove clothing or covering from
Stripped the beds.
Strand
A complex of fibers or filaments that have been twisted together to form a cable, rope, thread, or yarn.
Strip
To remove or take off (clothing or covering)
Stripped off his shirt.
Strand
A single filament, such as a fiber or thread, of a woven or braided material.
Strip
To remove an exterior coating, as of paint or varnish, from
Stripped the cabinets.
Strand
A ropelike length of something
A strand of pearls.
A strand of DNA.
Strip
To remove the leaves from the stalks of (tobacco, for example).
Strand
A wisp or lock of hair.
Strip
To clear of a natural covering or growth; make bare
Strip a field.
Strand
One of the elements woven together to make an intricate whole, such as the plot of a novel.
Strip
To deprive of possessions, office, rank, privileges, or honors; divest
The court stripped him of his property.
Strand
To drive or run (a boat, for example) ashore or aground.
Strip
To rob of wealth or property; plunder or despoil
Stripped the palace of its treasures.
Strand
To cause (a whale or other sea animal) to be unable to swim free from a beach or from shallow water.
Strip
To remove equipment, furnishings, or accessories from
They stripped down the car to reduce its weight.
Strand
To bring into or leave in a difficult or helpless position
The convoy was stranded in the desert.
Strip
To remove nonessential detail from; reduce to essentials
The director stripped down her style of filmmaking.
Strand
(Baseball) To leave (a base runner) on base at the end of an inning.
Strip
To dismantle (a firearm, for example) piece by piece.
Strand
(Linguistics) To separate (a grammatical element) from other elements in a construction, either by moving it out of the construction or moving the rest of the construction. In the sentence What are you aiming at, the preposition at has been stranded.
Strip
To damage or break the threads of (a screw, for example) or the teeth of (a gear).
Strand
To be driven or run ashore or aground
The boat stranded on the rocks.
Strip
To draw and discard the first drops of milk from the udder of (a cow or goat, for example) at the start of milking.
Strand
To be stranded, as on a beach. Used of sea animals.
Strip
To draw the last drops of milk from the udder of (a cow or goat, for example) at the end of milking.
Strand
To make or form (a rope, for example) by twisting strands together.
Strip
To extract the milt or roe from (a live fish).
Strand
To break a strand of (a rope, for example).
Strip
To draw in (a fishing line) by hand, as between casts with a fly rod.
Strand
The shore or beach of the sea or ocean; shore; beach.
Grand Strand
Strip
To mount (a photographic positive or negative) on paper to be used in making a printing plate.
Strand
The shore or beach of a lake or river.
Strip
To undress completely.
Strand
A small brook or rivulet.
Strip
To perform a striptease.
Strand
A passage for water; gutter.
Strip
To fall away or be removed; peel
The wallpaper strips away easily.
Strand
A street.
Strip
To cut or tear into strips.
Strand
Each of the strings which, twisted together, make up a yarn, rope or cord.
Strip
A striptease.
Strand
A string.
Strip
A long narrow piece, usually of uniform width
A strip of paper.
Strips of beef.
Strand
An individual length of any fine, string-like substance.
Strand of spaghetti
Strand of hair.
Strip
A long narrow region of land or body of water.
Strand
(electronics) A group of wires, usually twisted or braided.
Strip
A comic strip.
Strand
(broadcasting) A series of programmes on a particular theme or linked subject.
Strip
An airstrip.
Strand
(figurative) An element in a composite whole; a sequence of linked events or facts; a logical thread.
Strand of truth
Strip
An area, as along a busy street or highway, that is lined with a great number and variety of commercial establishments.
Strand
(genetics) A nucleotide chain.
Strip
(countable) A long, thin piece of land; any long, thin area.
The countries were in dispute over the ownership of a strip of desert about 100 metres wide.
Strand
To run aground; to beach.
Strip
A long, thin piece of any material; any such material collectively.
Papier mache is made from strips of paper.
Squeeze a strip of glue along the edge and then press down firmly.
I have some strip left over after fitting out the kitchen.
Strand
To leave (someone) in a difficult situation; to abandon or desert.
Strip
A comic strip.
Strand
To cause the third out of an inning to be made, leaving a runner on base.
Jones pops up; that's going to strand a pair.
Strip
A landing strip.
Strand
(transitive) To break a strand of (a rope).
Strip
A strip steak.
Strand
(transitive) To form by uniting strands.
Strip
(US) A street with multiple shopping or entertainment possibilities.
Strand
One of the twists, or strings, as of fibers, wires, etc., of which a rope is composed.
Strip
(fencing) The playing area, roughly 14 meters by 2 meters.
Strand
The shore, especially the beach of a sea, ocean, or large lake; rarely, the margin of a navigable river.
Strip
The uniform of a football team, or the same worn by supporters.
Strand
To break a strand of (a rope).
Strip
(mining) A trough for washing ore.
Strand
To drive on a strand; hence, to run aground; as, to strand a ship.
Strip
The issuing of a projectile from a rifled gun without acquiring the spiral motion.
Strand
To drift, or be driven, on shore to run aground; as, the ship stranded at high water.
Strip
(television) A television series aired at the same time daily (or at least on Mondays to Fridays), so that it appears as a strip straight across the weekly schedule.
Strand
A pattern forming a unity within a larger structural whole;
He tried to pick up the strands of his former life
I could hear several melodic strands simultaneously
Strip
(finance) An investment strategy involving simultaneous trade with one call and two put options on the same security at the same strike price, similar to but more bearish than a straddle.
Strand
Line consisting of a complex of fibers or filaments that are twisted together to form a thread or a rope or a cable
Strip
The act of removing one's clothes; a striptease.
She stood up on the table and did a strip.
Strand
A necklace made by a stringing objects together;
A string of beads
A strand of pearls
Strip
Denotes a version of a game in which losing players must progressively remove their clothes.
Strip poker; strip Scrabble
Strand
A very slender natural or synthetic fiber
Strip
(transitive) To remove or take away, often in strips or stripes.
Norm will strip the old varnish before painting the chair.
Strand
A poetic term for a shore (as the area periodically covered and uncovered by the tides)
Strip
To take off clothing.
Seeing that no one else was about, he stripped and dived into the river.
Strand
A street in west central London famous for its theaters and hotels
Strip
(intransitive) To perform a striptease.
In the seedy club, a group of drunken men were watching a woman stripping.
Strand
Leave stranded or isolated withe little hope og rescue;
The travellers were marooned
Strip
(transitive) To take away something from (someone or something); to plunder; to divest.
The athlete was stripped of his medal after failing a drugs test.
They had stripped the forest bare, with not a tree left standing.
Don't park your car here overnight, otherwise it will be stripped by morning.
Strip
(transitive) To remove cargo from (a container).
Strip
(transitive) To remove (the thread or teeth) from a screw, nut, or gear, especially inadvertently by overtightening.
Don't tighten that bolt any more or you'll strip the thread.
The screw is stripped.
Strip
(intransitive) To fail in the thread; to lose the thread, as a bolt, screw, or nut.
Strip
(transitive) To fire (a bullet or ball) from a rifle such that it fails to pick up a spin from the rifling.
Strip
(intransitive) To fail to pick up a spin from the grooves in a rifle barrel.
Strip
(transitive) To remove color from hair, cloth, etc. to prepare it to receive new color.
Strip
To remove all cards of a particular suit from another player. (See also strip-squeeze.)
Strip
(transitive) To empty (tubing) by applying pressure to the outside of (the tubing) and moving that pressure along (the tubing).
Strip
(transitive) To milk a cow, especially by stroking and compressing the teats to draw out the last of the milk.
Strip
To press out the ripe roe or milt from fishes, for artificial fecundation.
Strip
To run a television series at the same time daily (or at least on Mondays to Fridays), so that it appears as a strip straight across the weekly schedule.
Strip
To pare off the surface of (land) in strips.
Strip
(transitive) To remove the overlying earth from (a deposit).
Strip
To pass; to get clear of; to outstrip.
Strip
To remove the insulation from a wire/cable.
Strip
To remove the metal coating from (a plated article), as by acids or electrolytic action.
Strip
To remove fibre, flock, or lint from; said of the teeth of a card when it becomes partly clogged.
Strip
To pick the cured leaves from the stalks of (tobacco) and tie them into "hands".
Strip
To remove the midrib from (tobacco leaves).
Strip
To deprive; to bereave; to make destitute; to plunder; especially, to deprive of a covering; to skin; to peel; as, to strip a man of his possession, his rights, his privileges, his reputation; to strip one of his clothes; to strip a beast of his skin; to strip a tree of its bark.
And strippen her out of her rude array.
They stripped Joseph out of his coat.
Opinions which . . . no clergyman could have avowed without imminent risk of being stripped of his gown.
Strip
To divest of clothing; to uncover.
Before the folk herself strippeth she.
Strip your sword stark naked.
Strip
To dismantle; as, to strip a ship of rigging, spars, etc.
Strip
To pare off the surface of, as land, in strips.
Strip
To deprive of all milk; to milk dry; to draw the last milk from; hence, to milk with a peculiar movement of the hand on the teats at the last of a milking; as, to strip a cow.
Strip
To pass; to get clear of; to outstrip.
When first they stripped the Malean promontory.
Before he reached it he was out of breath,And then the other stripped him.
Strip
To pull or tear off, as a covering; to remove; to wrest away; as, to strip the skin from a beast; to strip the bark from a tree; to strip the clothes from a man's back; to strip away all disguisses.
To strip bad habits from a corrupted heart, is stripping off the skin.
Strip
To tear off (the thread) from a bolt or nut; as, the thread is stripped.
Strip
To remove the metal coating from (a plated article), as by acids or electrolytic action.
Strip
To remove fiber, flock, or lint from; - said of the teeth of a card when it becomes partly clogged.
Strip
To pick the cured leaves from the stalks of (tobacco) and tie them into "hands"; to remove the midrib from (tobacco leaves).
Strip
To take off, or become divested of, clothes or covering; to undress.
Strip
A narrow piece, or one comparatively long; as, a strip of cloth; a strip of land.
Strip
A trough for washing ore.
Strip
The issuing of a projectile from a rifled gun without acquiring the spiral motion.
Strip
A relatively long narrow piece of something;
He felt a flat strip of muscle
Strip
Artifact consisting of a narrow flat piece of material
Strip
An airfield without normal airport facilities
Strip
A sequence of drawings telling a story in a newspaper or comic book
Strip
Thin piece of wood or metal
Strip
A form of erotic entertainment in which a dancer gradually undresses to music;
She did a strip right in front of everyone
Strip
Take away possessions from someone;
The Nazis stripped the Jews of all their assets
Strip
Get undressed;
Please don't undress in front of everybody!
She strips in front of strangers every night for a living
Strip
Remove the surface from;
Strip wood
Strip
Remove substances from by a percolating liquid;
Leach the soil
Strip
Lay bare;
Denude a forest
Strip
Steal goods; take as spoils;
During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners
Strip
Remove all contents or possession from, or empty completely;
The boys cleaned the sandwich platters
The trees were cleaned of apples by the storm
Strip
Strip the cured leaves from;
Strip tobacco
Strip
Remove the thread (of screws)
Strip
Remove a constituent from a liquid
Strip
Take off or remove;
Strip a wall of its wallpaper
Strip
Draw the last milk (of cows)
Strip
Remove (someone's or one's own) clothes;
The nurse quickly undressed the accident victim
She divested herself of her outdoor clothes
He disinvested himself of his garments
Common Curiosities
What is the primary difference between a strand and a strip?
A strand is a single thin length, naturally occurring or part of a larger item, whereas a strip is a long, narrow piece cut or separated from something larger.
What is an example of a strand used in everyday language?
"She found a strand of gray hair."
Can "strand" and "strip" be used interchangeably in any context?
They are not typically interchangeable due to their specific connotations in various contexts.
How are the terms used differently in a biological context?
"Strand" refers to natural filamentous or thread-like structures, while "strip" is less common and might refer to samples in experiments.
What is an example of a strip used in construction?
"They used thin metal strips to reinforce the frame."
What are common examples of strips in craft?
Strips of fabric used in quilting or strips of paper in scrapbooking.
What does it mean when someone says to strip something?
It means to remove layers, coverings, or belongings from something or someone.
Is there a geographic significance to the term strand?
Yes, it can also refer to a beach or shore.
Can both terms be related to DNA?
Only "strand" is typically used in reference to DNA, as in a strand of DNA.
How does the usage of these terms vary in textiles?
"Strand" refers to individual fibers or threads, while "strip" refers to pieces of fabric cut from larger pieces.
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Written by
Maham Liaqat
Co-written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
