English Reference
noun · verb

stride

n. · v.
US /ˈstɹaɪd/ UK /stɹˈaɪd/ stride UK spelling strode

  1. 01 B2 Upper Intermediate

    n.a long step when you are walking or running.

    n.a single long step in walking or running, or the distance covered by such a movement.

    Simple

    He reached the door in just three long strides.

    In context

    The athlete maintained a consistent stride throughout the race, ensuring he didn't exhaust his energy before the final lap.

  2. 02 B2 Upper Intermediate

    n.an improvement or progress in the way something is developing.

    n.significant progress or an advance in development, often used in the plural 'strides'.

    Simple

    The company has made great strides in improving its technology this year.

    In context

    Medical science has made enormous strides in the treatment of rare genetic disorders over the last decade.

  3. 03 C2 Proficiency Technical Music

    n.a style of jazz piano where the left hand moves quickly between low notes and chords.

    n.a style of jazz piano playing in which the left hand characteristically alternates a bass note on the first and third beats with a chord on the second and fourth.

    Simple

    The pianist played a lively stride version of the classic song.

    In context

    Mastering stride piano requires immense coordination, as the left hand must leap accurately across the keyboard while the right hand improvises.

  4. 04 C2 Proficiency Technical Computing

    n.the distance between pieces of data in a computer's memory.

    n.the number of memory locations between successive elements in an array or pixels in a bitmap.

    Simple

    The programmer adjusted the stride to make the image process faster.

    In context

    If the stride is not correctly aligned with the cache line size, the software's performance may degrade significantly during large-scale data processing.

    incrementstep size
  5. 05 B2 Upper Intermediate

    v.to walk with long, confident steps.

    v.to walk with long steps, typically in a purposeful or confident manner.

    Simple

    She strode across the room to shake his hand.

    In context

    The CEO strode into the boardroom with an air of absolute authority, immediately silencing the gathered executives.

Taiwo Awoniyi and Jack Rudoni also missed big chances to give the visitors the lead before City began to find their stride.

Al Jazeera· 5 Sept 2026

Etymology 1

From Middle English striden, from Old English strīdan (“stride”), from Proto-West Germanic strīdan, from Proto-Germanic strīdaną. Cognate with Low German striden (“to fight, to stride”), Dutch strijden (“to fight”), German streiten (“to fight, to quarrel”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English stride, stryde, from Old English stride (“a stride, pace”), from the verb (see above). Doublet of strid.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin gem-pro *strīdaną
Level B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency Frequent
Updated