# stride

/ˈstɹaɪd/ (US) · /stɹˈaɪd/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/stride
Updated: 2026-08-08

## Senses

### 1. a long step

noun · CEFR B2

a long step when you are walking or running.

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

- He reached the door in just three long strides.
- The athlete maintained a consistent stride throughout the race, ensuring he didn't exhaust his energy before the final lap.

### 2. progress

noun · CEFR B2

an improvement or progress in the way something is developing.

For teachers: significant progress or an advance in development, often used in the plural 'strides'.

- The company has made great strides in improving its technology this year.
- Medical science has made enormous strides in the treatment of rare genetic disorders over the last decade.

### 3. jazz piano style

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical

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

For teachers: 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.

- The pianist played a lively stride version of the classic song.
- Mastering stride piano requires immense coordination, as the left hand must leap accurately across the keyboard while the right hand improvises.

### 4. memory spacing

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical

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

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

- The programmer adjusted the stride to make the image process faster.
- If the stride is not correctly aligned with the cache line size, the software's performance may degrade significantly during large-scale data processing.

### 5. to walk with long steps

verb · CEFR B2

to walk with long, confident steps.

For teachers: to walk with long steps, typically in a purposeful or confident manner.

- She strode across the room to shake his hand.
- The CEO strode into the boardroom with an air of absolute authority, immediately silencing the gathered executives.

## Examples

- He crossed the room in one long stride.
- The athlete worked on lengthening her stride to improve her sprinting speed during the final lap.
- The research team has made great strides in developing a sustainable alternative to plastic packaging over the last decade.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.