Other forms: stricter, strictest
Strict means the rules are followed exactly, with no bending. A strict teacher who will not take the homework a day late; a strict diet with nothing outside the list on the fridge.
It works in two directions. A person is strict — a strict father, a strict referee — and a rule is strict: strict instructions, strict conditions, a strict deadline. You are strict WITH a person and strict ABOUT a thing. Strict also means exact rather than harsh: in the strict sense of the word, a tomato is a fruit, and strictly speaking you should have asked first. The adverb does a lot of work in signs and warnings — strictly forbidden, strictly no parking, strictly between us. And strict is not the same as cruel: a strict parent can be a loving one.
1adjectivestrictDemanding that rules and standards are obeyed exactly.
“Her coach is strict about arriving on time.”
2adjectiveorder(of a rule, order or condition) That must be followed exactly, with no exceptions.
“The library has strict rules about food and drink.”
3adjectiveliteralExact and literal in meaning.
“In the strict legal definition, the building is not a house at all.”
Strict is Latin strictus, the past participle of stringere, "to draw tight, bind, contract". A strict rule is a rope pulled tight. The same verb gave English stringent and strain, and by an older road the word strait, as in a narrow channel of sea.
Proto-Indo-European
*streyg-
Latin
strictus
English, today
strict
Built from
Borrowed from Latin strictus, past participle of stringere (“to draw tight, bind, contract”). a doublet of strait and stretto. See stringent, strain. Related to strong.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA