string – English noun declension

English noun forms of string

Noun: string
Singularstring
Pluralstrings

Sample Sentences

  • She bought cotton thread to use to make string.
  • I need three strings to complete the project.
  • Round Ormond's knee thou tiest the mystic string. [1700, Matthew Prior, Carmen Seculare. for the Year 1700:]
  • I always know what position he'll take because the Chairwoman of the Board has her string on him.
  • You have to keep the piece with your mother-in-law, because mothers always have strings in their child.
  • "Mr. Chairman, it gives me pleasure to mention the name of Mr. J. M. Blake as one of the delegates from this ward; and I can confidently assure the house that if he is made a delegate he can be counted on to represent the whole people and cater only to their wishes, as it is well known that no one has had or ever can have a string on him." [1909, N. Y. Homer, A Slight Indiscretion, Cochrane Publishing Company, pages 122-123:]
  • The deal sounds good, but what are the strings?
  • no strings attached
  • But he added: "The RDG offer contains more strings than a harp, including some which have never previously been discussed. It also omits significant points that had previously been negotiated." [2022 December 14, Mel Holley, “Network News: Strikes go on as RMT rejects RDG's "detrimental" offer”, in RAIL, number 972, page 8:]
  • tug on the heart strings
  • The experience struck a string in him that turned into a lifetime hobby.
  • The sight triggered a string of revulsion in her.
  • The smell pulled a string that reawakened his memory of his grandmother's cooking.
  • You have to get the ball on an absolute string.
  • The team needs to be on a string.
  • Tell Johnson he needs to be on a string with the ball.
  • The headdress's frame is made with strings of gold.
  • the strings of beans; a string bean
  • You have to be strong to pull on the string.
  • The deer jumped the string.
  • a violin string
  • He lacked Ginny's skill on the strings, but made up for it in enthusiasm. [2006, Lou Grantt, At the Lake, page 93:]
  • The strings were wonderful in last night's performance.
  • If a player uses, say, 10 inches of string to move from rough to fairway, those 10 inches are then cut from her allotment and disposed of. Players must maximize their string by using it judiciously. [1997, National Golf Foundation, Tournaments and Events: Organization and Management, page 67:]
  • Duckweed putteth forth a little string into the water, from the bottom. [1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:]
  • The string of his tongue was loosed. [1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 7:35:]
  • a string of pearls, shells or beads
  • a string of sausages
  • The string of houses at the end of Motter Avenue are having a block party.
  • The war was ended by a catastrophic string of battles on the northern front.
  • The string of cars stretched as far as I could see.
  • Her string of bad luck seemed likely to continue.
  • He let out a string of profanities. That acronym is a string of letters. She heard a string of applause from the audience, amid a few strings of laughter.
  • a string of islands [1776–1788, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:]
  • In 1933, disgusted and discouraged after a string of commercial failures, Clara quit the film business forever. [2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 27:]
  • This is a category where I have seen some different variations. Down in Florida, they shoot this category using four pistols and a shotgun. They will replace the rifle string with another pistol string. This makes that string much more challenging because of the farther rifle targets being engaged with pistols. [2023 January 19, The Outlaw Travis James, “Cowboy Action Shooting Categories”, in Action Shooting Network:]
  • If none of the cases in a string is controlling, cite the first case and the most recent one, or the first case and the case in the string that is most like the one you are trying. [2003, John Phelps Warnock, Harold C. Warnock, Effective Writing: A Handbook with Stories for Lawyers, Parlor Press LLC, page 92:]
  • The dish was garnished with zucchini strings.
  • The string of spittle dangling from his chin was most unattractive
  • The curds milled at pH 5.40 had a tough, firm texture with nice strings and squeaky chew as compared with curds milled at pH 5.10 that were much softer, flowed easily out of the cooker-stretcher, melted completely, and had a tear with no strings. The curds in the cheese made from milk with 5.5% CN were the toughest and firmest of all cheeses with a mealy texture when milled at pH 5.40 whereas at pH 5.10, the curd had good string but with tough, chewy, and squeaky texture. [2025 May 12, A.V. Swaminathan, S.K. Lillevang, S. Govindasamy-Lucey, J.J. Jaeggi, M.E. Johnson, J.A. Lucey, “Low-moisture part-skim mozzarella made from milk with varying casein contents”, in Journal of Dairy Science, volume 108, number 7, July 2025, pages 6771-6787:]
  • Strings and Flarks[:] The two most conspicuous land form patterns in water tracks are fields of tree islands and networks of strings and flarks. The origin of strings and flarks is a controversial subject that has been treated extensively[…] [1987, Paul H. Glaser, The Ecology of Patterned Boreal Peatlands of Northern Minnesota: A Community Profile, page 51:]
  • […] strings and flarks are again aligned along the contours, but the flarks are much wider and are often drier. Where the flarks are flooded they are curiously reminiscent of a system of terraced paddy fields […] [1993, Shatrughna Prasad Sinha, Instant encyclopaedia of geography, Mittal Publications, →ISBN, page 335:]
  • […] strings and flarks is scarcely noticeable and it is the intermediate level (relative to the water table) between the higher, drier strings, and the low, wet flarks, which dominates. Such mires have an almost continuous cover of sedges[…] [2009 July 15, Vaclav Cilek, Earth System: History and Natural Variability - Volume III, EOLSS Publications, →ISBN, page 199:]
  • a single miner is often found pursuing his solitary labours at a string or thin vein of ore [1833, Thomas Sopwith, An Account of the Mining Districts of Alston Moor, Weardale […] :]
  • He owned a string of pizza restaurants throughout the region.
  • The US operates a string of military bases in countries throughout the world.
  • The batter should play out the string. The pitcher should run out the string.
  • This pitch will be key, because the string is out.
  • first string; second string; third string
  • My string usually consisted of six to eight head and occasionally more, mostly young horses, with one or two good broke six or seven year olds. [2011, Buck Horn, A Big String - Stories about Horses, Round-Ups and Characters I Have Known:]
  • The Ball Brothers' string of horses came in early from Plattsburg, where they were exhibited last week. This noted string of show horses from the Ball stables at Versailles, Ky., is one of the big features of the horse show. [1911 October 17, The Shadow and Show Horse Chronicle, volume 1, Lexington, Kentucky: The Chronicle Publishing Group:]
  • "That's Flynn of Kildare," said Dodds's informant. "Jack Flynn has brought down that string of horses, and the other large string over yonder belongs to Tom Flynn, his brother. The two of them together are the two first breeders in Ireland." [1899, A. Conan Doyle, “A Shadow Before”, in The Windsor Magazine, page 53:]
  • They were turning tricks, doing drugs, and generally little better off than they had been before, except that they were keeping more of their money. But they seemed lonely, too, without the company of their pimp and the rest of his string. [2006, Steve Niles, Jeff Mariotte, 30 Days of Night: Rumors of the Undead, page 307:]
  • A string of goats dotted the path up the mountainside.
  • The string of bison strolled along the river.
  • I heard a string of mallards taking flight one by one.
  • A great sea of rain clouds hovers over a string of bison. [2018, James P. Ronda, Visions of the Tallgrass: Prairie Photographs by Harvey Payne, University of Oklahoma Press:]
  • It is reported in Central Australia that the camels there have acquired a taste for barbed wire, and that a string of camels can be tempted up a difficult hill by dangling a coil of barbed wire in front of them. [1906, John Walter Gregory, The Dead Heart of Australia: A Journey Around Lake Eyre in the Summer of 1901-1902, with Some Account of the Lake Eyre Basin and the Flowing Wells of Central Australia, J. Murray, page 43:]
  • we heard a number of shots, and, looking up, saw a string of ducks rise from the water and fly off towards the head of the pond [1923, James S. Verner, “The Lame Duck, the Alligator and Bill”, in The Libertarian, volume 3, page 561:]
  • Many of those that pretend to be great Rabbies in these studies have scarce saluted them from the strings, and the titlepage. [1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Causes that hitherto have Hindred it. […], [London]: […] Thomas Vnderhill, →OCLC:]

Etymology

1. From Middle English string, streng, strynge, from Old English strenġ, from Proto-West Germanic *strangi, from Proto-Germanic *strangiz (“string”), from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“rope, cord, strand; to tighten”).
2. Cognate with Scots string (“string”), Dutch streng (“cord, strand”), Low German strenge (“strand, cord, rope”), German Strang (“strand, cord, rope”), Danish streng (“string”), Swedish sträng (“string, cord, wire”), Icelandic strengur (“string”), Latvian stringt (“to be tight, wither”), Latin stringō (“to tighten”), Ancient Greek στραγγαλόομαι (strangalóomai, “to strangle”), from στραγγάλη (strangálē, “halter”), Ancient Greek στραγγός (strangós, “tied together, entangled, twisted”). See: Dutch Nouns 'streng', German Nouns 'Strang', Danish Nouns 'streng', Swedish Nouns 'sträng', Icelandic Nouns 'strengur', Latin Nouns 'stringō'.

Verbs referencing "string"

Dutch Nouns string, Dutch Nouns streng, German Nouns Strang, Icelandic Nouns strangi, Finnish Nouns stringit, German Nouns String.