Home / Words / stretchNo. 0248

stretch

/stretʃ//stretʃ/·verb, noun
to pull something out to greater length, or extend the body; a continuous length of space or time
Fig. 1 — A rubber band hangs slack off a hook by the door.
01Definition

To stretch is to pull a thing out to greater length or size under tension — a band, a muscle, a budget — with the strong implication that it wants to come back: what is stretched holds its new length only while the force lasts. Old English streccan gave the word, and its elasticity made it endlessly figurative: money stretches, patience stretches, a claim can be a stretch. As a noun it is a continuous run of something — a stretch of road, coast, or years.

02In use
  • iRubber gloves stretch to fit almost any hand.
  • iiThe savings had to stretch until the end of the month.
  • iiiA single railway line stretches from the coast to the capital.
03Collocations
  • stretch a muscle
  • stretch the budget
  • stretched thin
  • a stretch of road
  • at a stretch
  • stretch the truth

Family stretch (noun) · stretchy (adjective) · stretcher (noun) · outstretched (adjective)

04Relations

=elongate, extend, lengthen, expand, pull

≠shrink, contract, slacken

06TOEFL & IELTS

High-value in both tests precisely because it works at every register: literal (stretch before exercise), figurative (resources stretched thin), and as a noun (a stretch of coastline — useful in IELTS Task 1 map descriptions). The idioms are the trap and the prize: 'a bit of a stretch' (implausible), 'at a stretch' (just barely), 'stretch the truth' (exaggerate). In listening, the speaker's 'that's a stretch' signals doubt, not distance.

07Asked
What does 'a bit of a stretch' mean?
That a claim or plan goes further than the facts comfortably allow — it is hard to believe or barely achievable. 'Calling him fluent is a bit of a stretch' means the description exaggerates. The image is of pulling something past its natural length: the claim, like an over-pulled band, is under strain and close to snapping.
What does 'stretched thin' mean?
Spread over so many demands that nothing gets enough — a team stretched thin covers too many tasks with too few people. The physics is in the scene above: the further the band is pulled, the thinner it gets. Budgets, staff, patience and attention all get stretched thin; the phrase warns that somewhere, something is about to give.
What is the difference between stretch and strain?
Stretch is the lengthening; strain is the damage or distress from too much of it. You stretch a muscle deliberately before a run, but you strain it by overloading it — a strain is an injury. The same split carries into the figurative: a budget can stretch to cover a trip, while a costly emergency strains it.
Does 'stretch the truth' mean to lie?
Not quite — it means to exaggerate: the account stays anchored to something real but is pulled beyond it. Saying you 'led the project' when you co-led it stretches the truth; inventing a project outright is a lie. The idiom is gentler than 'lie' precisely because what is stretched is still the same material, just distended.
What does 'stretch out' add to 'stretch'?
Direction and completeness. You stretch out a hand or an arm (extend it fully toward something), stretch out on a sofa (lie at full length), or stretch out a payment plan (spread it over more time). Bare 'stretch' focuses on the lengthening itself; 'stretch out' pictures the result reaching its full extent.
Can stretch be a noun?
Yes, and the noun is everywhere: a continuous run of space or time — a stretch of road, a five-year stretch, the final stretch of a race. 'At a stretch' means only just ('forty people, at a stretch'), and doing something 'at one stretch' means without a break. In informal British English a stretch is also a prison term.
Is stretch the same as extend?
They overlap only at the edges. Stretch involves tension and elasticity — the thing is pulled and would spring back. Extend is about added reach with no snap-back implied: you extend a deadline, a ladder, an invitation. A rubber band stretches; a table with an extra leaf extends.