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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

straight.

Not crooked, curly, or bent; having a constant direction throughout its length.

8 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/stɹeɪt//stɹaɪt/Northumbria
  1. Not crooked, curly, or bent; having a constant direction throughout its length.

  2. Direct, undeviating.

    usually
  3. Perfectly horizontal or vertical; not diagonal or oblique.

  4. Describing the bat as held so as not to incline to either side; on, or near a line running between the two wickets.

  5. Having all cylinders in a single straight line; in-line.

  6. Direct in communication; unevasive, straightforward.

  7. Free from dishonesty; honest, law-abiding.

  8. Serious rather than comedic.

  9. In proper order; as it should be.

  10. In a row, in unbroken sequence; consecutive.

    After four straight wins, Mudchester United are top of the league.
  11. Describing the sets in a match of which the winner did not lose a single set.

  12. Making no exceptions or deviations in one's support of the organization and candidates of a political party.

    US
    a straight Republican
    a straight Democrat
  13. Containing the names of all the regularly nominated candidates of a single party and no others.

    US
    a straight ballot
  14. Conventional; mainstream; socially acceptable.

    colloquial
  15. Heterosexual.

    colloquial
  16. Occurring between people of the opposite sex (sometimes, but not always, specifically between heterosexual people).

    colloquial
    straight marriage, sex, relationships
  17. Related to conventional sexual intercourse.

    slang
  18. Not using alcohol, drugs, etc.

    colloquial
  19. Not plus size; thin.

    The shirts only come in straight sizes, not in plus sizes.
    shopping at a straight-sized store
  20. Strait; narrow.

    rare
  21. Stretched out; fully extended.

    obsolete
  22. Thorough; utter; unqualified.

    slang
  23. Of spirits: undiluted, unmixed; neat.

  24. Sent at a full rate for immediate delivery; being a fast telegram.

    historical
  25. Concerning the property allowing the parallel transport of vectors along a course that keeps tangent vectors remain as such throughout that course (a course which is straight, a straight curve, is a geodesic).

  26. OK, all right, fine; in a good state or situation.

    informal
    "Is something on your mind?" "Nah, I'm straight".
    Just making sure you're straight
  27. On good terms.

    informal · reciprocal
    We had a bit of a disagreement, but we're straight now.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English streight, streght, streiȝt, the past participle of strecchen (“to stretch”), from Old English streċċan (past participle ġestreaht, ġestreht), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch”). Cognate with Scots straicht (“straight”), Dutch gestrekt (“stretched”), German gestreckt (“stretched”), Danish strakt (“stretched”), Faroese and Norn strekti (“stretched”), Icelandic strekkti (“stretched”), Norwegian strekte (“stretched”), Swedish sträckte (“stretched”). Doublet of straught. Equivalent to stretch + -ed. In some senses, conflated with strait (“narrow, constricted”), which is from Latin strictus via Old French estreit.

adv/stɹeɪt//stɹaɪt/Northumbria
  1. Of a direction relative to the subject, precisely; as if following a direct line.

    The door will be straight ahead of you.
    Go straight back.
  2. Directly; without pause, delay or detour.

    On arriving at work, he went straight to his office.
  3. Continuously; without interruption or pause.

    He claims he can hold his breath for three minutes straight.
  4. Of speech or information, without prevarication or holding back; directly; straightforwardly; plainly.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English streight, streght, streiȝt, the past participle of strecchen (“to stretch”), from Old English streċċan (past participle ġestreaht, ġestreht), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch”). Cognate with Scots straicht (“straight”), Dutch gestrekt (“stretched”), German gestreckt (“stretched”), Danish strakt (“stretched”), Faroese and Norn strekti (“stretched”), Icelandic strekkti (“stretched”), Norwegian strekte (“stretched”), Swedish sträckte (“stretched”). Doublet of straught. Equivalent to stretch + -ed. In some senses, conflated with strait (“narrow, constricted”), which is from Latin strictus via Old French estreit.

noun/stɹeɪt//stɹaɪt/Northumbria
  1. Something that is not crooked or bent such as a part of a road or track.

  2. Five cards in sequence.

  3. A heterosexual.

    colloquial
    My friends call straights "heteros".
  4. A normal person; someone in mainstream society.

    slang
  5. A cigarette, particularly one containing tobacco instead of marijuana.

    slang
  6. A chiropractor who relies solely on spinal adjustment, with no other treatments.

  7. A cat that has straight ears despite belonging to a breed that often has folded ears.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English streight, streght, streiȝt, the past participle of strecchen (“to stretch”), from Old English streċċan (past participle ġestreaht, ġestreht), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch”). Cognate with Scots straicht (“straight”), Dutch gestrekt (“stretched”), German gestreckt (“stretched”), Danish strakt (“stretched”), Faroese and Norn strekti (“stretched”), Icelandic strekkti (“stretched”), Norwegian strekte (“stretched”), Swedish sträckte (“stretched”). Doublet of straught. Equivalent to stretch + -ed. In some senses, conflated with strait (“narrow, constricted”), which is from Latin strictus via Old French estreit.

verb/stɹeɪt//stɹaɪt/Northumbria
  1. To straighten.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English streight, streght, streiȝt, the past participle of strecchen (“to stretch”), from Old English streċċan (past participle ġestreaht, ġestreht), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch”). Cognate with Scots straicht (“straight”), Dutch gestrekt (“stretched”), German gestreckt (“stretched”), Danish strakt (“stretched”), Faroese and Norn strekti (“stretched”), Icelandic strekkti (“stretched”), Norwegian strekte (“stretched”), Swedish sträckte (“stretched”). Doublet of straught. Equivalent to stretch + -ed. In some senses, conflated with strait (“narrow, constricted”), which is from Latin strictus via Old French estreit.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.