VERB + STRENGTH
- exploit, play to
- The team may not have the best players, but it plays to its strengths
STRENGTH + VERB
- lie in sth
- Her great strength lies in her flexibility
ADJ
- enormous, great, immense
- high
- The material has exceptionally high strength for its weight
- greater, superior
- His superior physical strength won him the title
- growing
- continuing
- the continuing strength of the pound
- relative
- surprising, unexpected
- superhuman, supernatural
- brute
- He got the door open with brute strength
- extra
- They are reinforced with steel for extra strength
- collective
- emotional, inner
- muscle, muscular, physical
- economic, electoral, financial, industrial, military
- numerical
- the relative numerical strengths of men and women in the group
- police, union, etc.
- bargaining
- wind
- alcoholic
VERB + STRENGTH
- have
- He had just enough strength to reach for the phone
- find, summon up
- I'm trying to summon up the strength to do some more work
- build up, gain, gather
- You need to try and build up your strength before the winter. The opinion that the president should stand down has gained considerable strength
- gain in, grow in, increase in
- vary in
- These wines vary in strength between 11° and 15°
- lose
- get back, recover, regain
- give sb/sth, lend sb/sth
- Her love and support gave me strength. The metal reinforcement gives it the strength to resist the high winds
- sap
- The series of steep hills sapped the cyclists' strength
- conserve, save
- draw (on), use
- She was able to draw on her immense inner strength
- put
- He put all his strength into reorganizing the department
- take
- It took all his strength to open the box
- test
- The Moroccan athlete ran a fast lap to test the strength of the other runners
- increase
- reduce, undermine
- Her unwillingness to answer questions undermined the strength of her position
STRENGTH + VERB
- grow, increase
- decline, ebb (away), fail, falter, wane
- The country's economic strength is declining. Her strength was ebbing fast, so her children were called to her bedside