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Sprain vs. Strain — What's the Difference?

Sprain vs. Strain — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Sprain and Strain

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Sprain

A sprain, also known as a torn ligament, is the stretching or tearing of ligaments within a joint, often caused by an injury abruptly forcing the joint beyond its functional range of motion. Ligaments are tough, inelastic fibers made of collagen that connect two or more bones to form a joint and are important for joint stability and proprioception, which is the body's sense of limb position and movement.

Strain

To pull, draw, or stretch tight
The heavy load strained the rope.

Sprain

A painful wrenching or laceration of the ligaments of a joint.

Strain

(Physics) To cause distortion of (a body's parts or shape) by applying an external force; deform.

Sprain

The condition resulting from a sprain.
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Strain

To exert, use, or tax to the utmost
Straining our ears to hear.

Sprain

To cause a sprain to (a joint or ligament).

Strain

To injure or impair by overuse or overexertion; wrench
Strain a muscle.

Sprain

To weaken, as a joint, ligament, or muscle, by sudden and excessive exertion, as by wrenching; to overstrain, or stretch injuriously, but without luxation
To sprain one's ankle

Strain

To damage or weaken by pressure or tension
Winds that strained the mast.

Sprain

The act or result of spraining; lameness caused by spraining
A bad sprain of the wrist

Strain

To force beyond the proper or reasonable limit
An excuse that strains credulity.

Sprain

To weaken, as a joint, ligament, or muscle, by sudden and excessive exertion, as by wrenching; to overstrain, or stretch injuriously, but without luxation; as, to sprain one's ankle.

Strain

To pass (a liquid) through a filtering agent such as a strainer.

Sprain

The act or result of spraining; lameness caused by spraining; as, a bad sprain of the wrist.

Strain

To draw off or remove by filtration
Strained the pulp from the juice.

Sprain

A painful injury to a joint caused by a sudden wrenching of its ligaments

Strain

(Archaic) To embrace or clasp tightly; hug.

Sprain

Twist suddenly so as to sprain;
Wrench one's ankle
The wrestler twisted his shoulder
The hikers sprained their ankles when they fell
I turned my ankle and couldn't walk for several days

Strain

To make strong or steady efforts; strive hard
Straining to complete the coursework.

Strain

To contract or exert one's muscles to the utmost.

Strain

To pull or push forcibly or violently
The dog strained at its leash.

Strain

To be or become wrenched or twisted
The flagpole straining in the wind.

Strain

To be subjected to great stress
With such busy lives, the marriage can strain.

Strain

To pass through a filtering agent
The muddy water strains slowly.

Strain

The act of straining.

Strain

The state of being strained
The strain on the cable.

Strain

Extreme or laborious effort, exertion, or work
Moved the sofa with little strain.

Strain

A great or excessive demand or stress on one's body, mind, or resources
The strain of managing both a family and a career.

Strain

The state of being subjected to such demands or stresses
Trying to work under great strain.

Strain

A wrench, twist, or other physical injury resulting from excessive tension, effort, or use.

Strain

(Physics) Any of several kinds of deformation of the dimensions of a body when subjected to stress, as axial strain or elastic strain.

Strain

An exceptional degree or pitch
A strain of zealous idealism.

Strain

A group of bacteria or viruses that are genetically distinct from other groups of the same species.

Strain

A group of cultivated plants or domestic animals of the same species that have distinctive characteristics but are not considered a separate breed or variety.

Strain

The collective descendants of a common ancestor; a race, stock, line, or breed.

Strain

Any of the various lines of ancestry united in an individual or a family; ancestry or lineage.

Strain

A kind or sort
Imaginings of a morbid strain.

Strain

An inborn or inherited tendency or character
A strain of eccentricity in the family.

Strain

An inherent quality; a streak
"his upper-caste father, placid, inactive, with a strain of asceticism" (V.S. Naipaul).

Strain

The tone, tenor, or substance of a verbal utterance or of a particular action or behavior
Spoke in a passionate strain.

Strain

Often strains(Music) A passage of expression; a tune or an air
Melodic strains of the violin.

Strain

A passage of poetic and especially lyrical expression.

Strain

An outburst or a flow of eloquent or impassioned language.

Strain

(archaic) Race; lineage, pedigree.

Strain

(biology) A particular variety of a microbe, virus, or other organism, usually a taxonomically infraspecific one.
They say this year's flu virus is a particularly virulent strain.

Strain

(figurative) Hereditary character, quality, tendency, or disposition.
There is a strain of madness in her family.

Strain

Any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, etc.

Strain

Language that is eloquent, poetic, or otherwise heightened.

Strain

(rare) A kind or sort (of person etc.).

Strain

(obsolete) Treasure.

Strain

(obsolete) The blood-vessel in the yolk of an egg.

Strain

The act of straining, or the state of being strained.

Strain

A violent effort; an excessive and hurtful exertion or tension, as of the muscles.
He jumped up with a strain
The strain upon the sailboat's rigging

Strain

An injury resulting from violent effort; a sprain.

Strain

A dimensionless measure of object deformation either referring to engineering strain or true strain.

Strain

(obsolete) The track of a deer.

Strain

(obsolete) To hold tightly, to clasp.

Strain

To apply a force or forces to by stretching out.
To strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a ship
Relations between the United States and Guatemala traditionally have been close, although at times strained by human rights and civil/military issues.

Strain

To damage by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force.
The gale strained the timbers of the ship.

Strain

To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as when bending a beam.

Strain

To exert or struggle (to do something), especially to stretch (one's senses, faculties etc.) beyond what is normal or comfortable.
Sitting in back, I strained to hear the speaker.

Strain

To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in terms of intent or meaning.
To strain the law in order to convict an accused person

Strain

(transitive) To separate solid from liquid by passing through a strainer or colander

Strain

(intransitive) To percolate; to be filtered.
Water straining through a sandy soil

Strain

To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.

Strain

To urge with importunity; to press.
To strain a petition or invitation

Strain

(transitive) hug somebody; to hold somebody tightly.

Strain

(obsolete) To beget, generate (of light), engender, copulate (both of animals and humans), lie with, be born, come into the world.
A man straineth, liveth, then dieth.
Man, look at that cat straining that kitty.

Strain

Race; stock; generation; descent; family.
He is of a noble strain.
With animals and plants a cross between different varieties, or between individuals of the same variety but of another strain, gives vigor and fertility to the offspring.

Strain

Hereditary character, quality, or disposition.
Intemperance and lust breed diseases, which, propogated, spoil the strain of nation.

Strain

Rank; a sort.

Strain

A cultural subvariety that is only slightly differentiated.

Strain

The act of straining, or the state of being strained.

Strain

A violent effort; an excessive and hurtful exertion or tension, as of the muscles; as, he lifted the weight with a strain; the strain upon a ship's rigging in a gale; also, the hurt or injury resulting; a sprain.
Whether any poet of our country since Shakespeare has exerted a greater variety of powers with less strain and less ostentation.
Credit is gained by custom, and seldom recovers a strain.

Strain

A portion of music divided off by a double bar; a complete musical period or sentence; a movement, or any rounded subdivision of a movement.
Their heavenly harps a lower strain began.

Strain

A change of form or dimensions of a solid or liquid mass, produced by a stress.

Strain

Any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, oration, book, etc.; theme; motive; manner; style; also, a course of action or conduct; as, he spoke in a noble strain; there was a strain of woe in his story; a strain of trickery appears in his career.
Such take too high a strain at first.
The genius and strain of the book of Proverbs.
It [Pilgrim's Progress] seems a novelty, and yet containsNothing but sound and honest gospel strains.

Strain

Turn; tendency; inborn disposition. Cf. 1st Strain.
Because heretics have a strain of madness, he applied her with some corporal chastisements.

Strain

To draw with force; to extend with great effort; to stretch; as, to strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a ship; to strain the cords of a musical instrument.

Strain

To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as forces on a beam to bend it.

Strain

To exert to the utmost; to ply vigorously.
He sweats,Strains his young nerves.
They strain their warbling throatsTo welcome in the spring.

Strain

To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in the matter of intent or meaning; as, to strain the law in order to convict an accused person.
There can be no other meaning in this expression, however some may pretend to strain it.

Strain

To injure by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force; as, the gale strained the timbers of the ship.

Strain

To injure in the muscles or joints by causing to make too strong an effort; to harm by overexertion; to sprain; as, to strain a horse by overloading; to strain the wrist; to strain a muscle.
Prudes decayed about may track,Strain their necks with looking back.

Strain

To squeeze; to press closely.
Evander with a close embraceStrained his departing friend.

Strain

To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.
He talks and plays with Fatima, but his mirthIs forced and strained.
The quality of mercy is not strained.

Strain

To urge with importunity; to press; as, to strain a petition or invitation.
Note, if your lady strain his entertainment.

Strain

To press, or cause to pass, through a strainer, as through a screen, a cloth, or some porous substance; to purify, or separate from extraneous or solid matter, by filtration; to filter; as, to strain milk through cloth.

Strain

To make violent efforts.
To build his fortune I will strain a little.

Strain

To percolate; to be filtered; as, water straining through a sandy soil.

Strain

(physics) deformation of a physical body under the action of applied forces

Strain

Difficulty that causes worry or emotional tension;
She endured the stresses and strains of life
He presided over the economy during the period of the greatest stress and danger

Strain

A succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence;
She was humming an air from Beethoven

Strain

(psychology) nervousness resulting from mental stress;
His responsibilities were a constant strain
The mental strain of staying alert hour after hour was too much for him

Strain

A special variety of domesticated animals within a species;
He experimented on a particular breed of white rats
He created a new strain of sheep

Strain

(biology) a group of organisms within a species that differ in trivial ways from similar groups;
A new strain of microorganisms

Strain

A lineage or race of people

Strain

Injury to a muscle (often caused by overuse); results in swelling and pain

Strain

Pervading note of an utterance;
I could follow the general tenor of his argument

Strain

An effortful attempt to attain a goal

Strain

An intense or violent exertion

Strain

The act of singing;
With a shout and a song they marched up to the gates

Strain

To exert much effort or energy;
Straining our ears to hear

Strain

Test the limits of;
You are trying my patience!

Strain

Use to the utmost; exert vigorously or to full capacity;
He really extended himself when he climbed Kilimanjaro
Don't strain your mind too much

Strain

Separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements;
Sift the flour

Strain

Make tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious;

Strain

Stretch or force to the limit;
Strain the rope

Strain

Remove by passing through a filter;
Filter out the impurities

Strain

Rub through a strainer or process in an electric blender;
Puree the vegetables for the baby

Strain

Alter the shape of (something) by stress;
His body was deformed by leprosy

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