Strait vs. Channel — What's the Difference?

A strait is a naturally formed, narrow, typically navigable waterway that connects two larger bodies of water. Most commonly it is a channel of water that lies between two land masses.

A length of water wider than a strait, joining two larger areas of water, especially two seas.

A narrow channel joining two larger bodies of water

A band of frequencies used in radio and television transmission, especially as used by a particular station.

A position of difficulty, perplexity, distress, or need

A method or system for communication or distribution

Difficult; stressful.

An electric circuit which acts as a path for a signal

Having or marked by limited funds or resources.

A tubular passage or duct for liquid

Narrow or confined.

Direct towards a particular end or object

Fitting tightly; constricted.

Form channels or grooves in

Strict, rigid, or righteous.

The bed of a stream or river.

(archaic) Narrow; restricted as to space or room; close.

The deeper part of a river or harbor, especially a deep navigable passage.

(archaic) Righteous, strict.

A broad strait, especially one that connects two seas.

(obsolete) Tight; close; tight-fitting.

A trench, furrow, or groove.

(obsolete) Close; intimate; near; familiar.

A tubular passage for liquids; a conduit.

(obsolete) Difficult; distressful.

A course or pathway through which information is transmitted

(obsolete) Parsimonious; stingy; mean.

Often channels A route of communication or access

(geography) A narrow channel of water connecting two larger bodies of water.

In communications theory, a gesture, action, sound, written or spoken word, or visual image used in transmitting information.

A narrow pass, passage or street.

(Electronics) A specified frequency band for the transmission and reception of electromagnetic signals, as for television signals.

A neck of land; an isthmus.

A continuous program of audio or video content distributed by a television, radio, or internet broadcaster.

A difficult position.

A company or other entity presenting such content.

To confine; put to difficulties.

(Computers) A chatroom on an online network.

To tighten.

The medium through which a spirit guide purportedly communicates with the physical world.

(obsolete) Strictly; rigorously.

A rolled metal bar with a bracket-shaped section.

A variant of Straight.

See ion channel.

Narrow; not broad.

See protein channel.

Tight; close; closely fitting.

A wood or steel ledge projecting from a sailing ship's sides to spread the shrouds and keep them clear of the gunwales.

Close; intimate; near; familiar.

To make or cut channels in.

Strict; scrupulous; rigorous.

To form a groove or flute in.

Difficult; distressful; straited.

To direct or guide along some desired course

Parsimonious; niggargly; mean.

To serve as a medium for (a spirit guide).

Strictly; rigorously.

To use or follow as a model; imitate

A narrow pass or passage.

The physical confine of a river or slough, consisting of a bed and banks.

A (comparatively) narrow passageway connecting two large bodies of water; - often in the plural; as, the strait, or straits, of Gibraltar; the straits of Magellan; the strait, or straits, of Mackinaw.

The natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar, bay, or any shallow body of water.

A neck of land; an isthmus.

The navigable part of a river.

Fig.: A condition of narrowness or restriction; doubt; distress; difficulty; poverty; perplexity; - sometimes in the plural; as, reduced to great straits.

A narrow body of water between two land masses.

To put to difficulties.

Something through which another thing passes; a means of conveying or transmitting.

A narrow channel of the sea joining two larger bodies of water

A gutter; a groove, as in a fluted column.

A bad or difficult situation or state of affairs

A structural member with a cross section shaped like a squared-off letter C.

Strict and severe;

(electronics) A connection between initiating and terminating nodes of a circuit.

(electronics) The narrow conducting portion of a MOSFET transistor.

(communication) The part that connects a data source to a data sink.

(communication) A path for conveying electrical or electromagnetic signals, usually distinguished from other parallel paths.

(communication) A single path provided by a transmission medium via physical separation, such as by multipair cable.

(communication) A single path provided by a transmission medium via spectral or protocol separation, such as by frequency or time-division multiplexing.

(broadcasting) A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies, usually in conjunction with a predetermined letter, number, or codeword, and allocated by international agreement.

(broadcasting) A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies used for transmitting television.

(storage) The portion of a storage medium, such as a track or a band, that is accessible to a given reading or writing station or head.

The part of a turbine pump where the pressure is built up.

A distribution channel

(Internet) A particular area for conversations on an IRC network, analogous to a chat room and often dedicated to a specific topic.

A means of delivering up-to-date Internet content.

A psychic or medium who temporarily takes on the personality of somebody else.

(nautical) The wale of a sailing ship which projects beyond the gunwale and to which the shrouds attach via the chains. One of the flat ledges of heavy plank bolted edgewise to the outside of a vessel, to increase the spread of the shrouds and carry them clear of the bulwarks.

(transitive) To make or cut a channel or groove in.

(transitive) To direct or guide along a desired course.

To serve as a medium for.

(transitive) To follow as a model, especially in a performance.

The hollow bed where a stream of water runs or may run.

The deeper part of a river, harbor, strait, etc., where the main current flows, or which affords the best and safest passage for vessels.

A strait, or narrow sea, between two portions of lands; as, the British Channel.

That through which anything passes; a means of passing, conveying, or transmitting; as, the news was conveyed to us by different channels.

A gutter; a groove, as in a fluted column.

Flat ledges of heavy plank bolted edgewise to the outside of a vessel, to increase the spread of the shrouds and carry them clear of the bulwarks.

Official routes of communication, especially the official means by which information should be transmitted in a bureaucracy; as, to submit a request through channels; you have to go through channels.

A band of electromagnetic wave frequencies that is used for one-way or two-way radio communication; especially, the frequency bands assigned by the FTC for use in television broadcasting, and designated by a specific number; as, channel 2 in New York is owned by CBS.

One of the signals in an electronic device which receives or sends more than one signal simultaneously, as in stereophonic radios, records, or CD players, or in measuring equipment which gathers multiple measurements simultaneously.

An opening in a cell membrane which serves to actively transport or allow passive transport of substances across the membrane; as, an ion channel in a nerve cell.

A path for transmission of signals between devices within a computer or between a computer and an external device; as, a DMA channel.

To form a channel in; to cut or wear a channel or channels in; to groove.

To course through or over, as in a channel.

A path over which electrical signals can pass;

A passage for water (or other fluids) to flow through;

A long narrow furrow cut either by a natural process (such as erosion) or by a tool (as e.g. a groove in a phonograph record)

A deep and relatively narrow body of water (as in a river or a harbor or a strait linking two larger bodies) that allows the best passage for vessels;

(often plural) a means of communication or access;

A bodily passage or tube lined with epithelial cells and conveying a secretion or other substance;

A television station and its programs;

A way of selling a company's product either directly or via distributors;

Transmit or serve as the medium for transmission;

Direct the flow of;

Send from one person or place to another;