strops

verb

present tense third-person singular of strop
as in sharpens
to make sharp or sharper at the museum they showed us how men used to strop razors with leather bands before the days of disposable blades

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for strops
  1. sharpens
  2. grinds
  3. edges
Verb
  • The discovery sharpens that broad history by anchoring a smallpox strain in northern Chile.
    — Sam Macdonald, Scientific American, 30 July 2026
  • The Guardian Built From The Same Cloth The institutions that protect our money are nevertheless far from defenseless, since the very capacity for recognizing patterns that empowers the attacker also sharpens the eyes of the watchman.
    — Dennis-Kenji Kipker, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
Definition of sharpens
Verb
  • The Food Processor quickly chops, slices, and shreds a wide array of ingredients for unlimited culinary creations, while the Coffee & Spice Grinder efficiently grinds coffee beans, spices, and herbs for superior flavor and potency.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 22 June 2026
  • With a range of 50 to 300 kilometers, the drones, all made in Ukraine, are designed to throttle the Russian army’s logistics – adding a new dimension of strikes to Ukraine’s strategy as the war grinds through its fifth year.
    — Gianluca Mezzofiore, CNN Money, 20 June 2026
Definition of grinds
Verb
  • The movie doesn’t shy away from letting Tony make mistakes—at times, the character edges toward outright villainy—and Banderas animates Chef with a contrasting moral clarity whose force feels almost physical.
    — Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Cameras and laser-ranging sensors on the servicer offer clues, and data from those readings can provide an estimate of how the satellite is moving before the servicer edges close enough to touch.
    — Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, The Conversation, 22 July 2026
Definition of edges
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

stroppy
strops
strove
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Strops.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/strops. Accessed 6 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of torpor

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

'Sneaked' or 'Snuck': Which is correct?

Why does English have so many silent letters?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

How long is a jiffy?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
asap street sign
Figure Out These Acronyms ASAP You don't have to be a NASA engineer to get these...
See All