strictly
- 1In a way that follows rules or standards firmly and without allowing exceptions.
The teacher strictly enforced the no-phone policy during the exam.
Visitors are strictly forbidden from feeding the animals in the reserve.
Similarrigorously, firmly, rigidly, stringently, expressly
Oppositeloosely, leniently, laxly
Note
The everyday sense, and the one that sits naturally beside prohibitions: strictly forbidden, strictly enforced. In David Walliams's Ratburger (2012), a headmaster repeats it for weight: "Strictly forbidden!" There it intensifies the rule more than it describes a manner. Both styles of comparison exist, strictlier and strictliest alongside more strictly and most strictly.
- 2In a limited way, restricted to one thing only and nothing beyond it.
This lounge is strictly for first-class passengers.
The meeting was strictly about the budget, with no other topics raised.
Similarexclusively, solely, only, purely, entirely
Note
Here the word fences something off instead of enforcing it, as in strictly for first-class passengers or strictly voluntary. George Orwell exploits that in 1945: work is "strictly voluntary," yet anyone who skips it loses half his rations. The irony lands because the adverb promises purity. Like only, it sits directly before the adjective or phrase it narrows.
- 3In the exact, narrow sense of a term, without any looser or broader interpretation.
Strictly, a whale is not a fish, despite spending its life in the sea.
A peanut is not strictly a nut; it grows underground like a legume.
Similartechnically, precisely, exactly, literally, properly
Oppositeloosely, roughly, broadly
Note
This sense polices the edges of a term. Where the "only" meaning limits what something is for, this one limits what a word covers, so a peanut is not strictly a nut. It keeps company with technically. Mark Carnall, writing on ammonites in 2017, uses both in one sentence to step down a chain of scientific names, each narrower than the last.
- 4In mathematics, in a way that rules out equality, so that a relation such as 'increasing' holds with strict inequality throughout a set or interval.
The function is strictly increasing across its entire domain.
A sequence that is strictly decreasing never repeats any of its values.
Oppositeweakly
Note
Mathematics uses the word to rule out equality. A strictly increasing function satisfies f(x) < f(y) whenever x < y, so it has no flat stretch where neighboring values stay the same. A function that is merely increasing allows f(x) ≤ f(y). The same contrast runs through strictly decreasing and strictly positive: the adverb signals that the weaker, non-strict version has been excluded.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of strictly apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
Formed from the word "strict" combined with the suffix "-ly".