stringent

adjective strin·gent \ ˈstrin-jənt \

|Updated on: 18 Jun 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: stringent in a Sentence

Editor's Note: How Should You Use stringent?

Definition of stringent

1 : tight, constricted

2 : marked by rigor, strictness, or severity especially with regard to rule or standard

stringent decontamination procedures

3 : marked by money scarcity and credit strictness

a stringent budget

—

stringently

adverb

See stringent defined for English-language learners

See stringent defined for kids

stringent was our Word of the Day on 07/04/2015. Hear the podcast!

Examples of stringent in a Sentence

stringent rules against unauthorized persons being in the building
“You’d need top grades for that,” said professor McGonagall, extracting a small, dark leaflet from under the mass on her desk and opening it. “They ask for a minimum of five N.E.W.T.s, and nothing under ‘Exceeds Expectations’ grade, I see. Then you would be required to undergo a stringent series of character and aptitude tests at the Auror office. It’s a difficult career path, Potter; they only take the best. In fact, I don’t think anybody has been taken on in the last three years.” —“Career Advice” P. 662, HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, J. K. Rowling, Scholastic Press, Scholastic Inc., ©2003
Waugh was by then an established novelist, known for such stringent satires as Vile Bodies, Black Mischief, and his other work of the 1930s, and for Brideshead Revisited—all of which are far better known in the United States than Sword of Honour, his masterpiece. —"Books & Critics" P. 128, Penelope Lively, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY Vol. 287 No. 2, February 2001
Throughout Canada and the United States, a beneficiary who is convicted in a criminal court proceeding of intentionally murdering the insured is disqualified from receiving life insurance policy proceeds. In many states and throughout Canada, a beneficiary who is convicted of a lesser offense––such as manslaughter––is also disqualified from receiving policy proceeds. Laws in Quebec are even more stringent; a beneficiary who attempts to kills the insured––even if that attempt is unsuccessful––is prohibited from receiving life insurance policy proceeds. —"Chapter Fourteen" P. 276, PRINCIPLES OF INSURANCE: LIFE, HEALTH, AND ANNUITIES, Harriett E. Jones, JD, FLMI, ACS et al., LOMA 1996
Ellison argued in his essay “What America Would Be Like Without Blacks” that blacks, constitutive of Americanness rather than candidates for it, are the moral center of America’s complex hybrid culture. They push democratic culture toward fruition, with the most obvious test being “the inclusion—not assimilation—of the black man.” America “could not survive being deprived of their presence because, by the irony implicit in the dynamics of American democracy, they symbolize both its most stringent testing and the possibility of its greatest human freedom,” he wrote. Toni Morrison’s best-selling book of essays, Playing in the Dark, can be read as an extended meditation on Ellison’s belief in the centrality of African-Americans for American literature. “The presence of black people is inherent, along with gender and family ties, in the earliest lesson every child is taught regarding his or her distinctiveness,” she writes. “Africanism is inextricable from the definition of Americanness.” Ellison wrote, “Whatever else the true American is, he is also somehow black.” —“The New Intellectuals” P. 67, Robert S. Boynton, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY Vol. 275 No. 3, March 1995

Recent Examples of stringent from the Web

One lesson from everything that has happened online recently — Facebook, the Russians and Cambridge Analytica; bots and misinformation everywhere — is that, in the absence stringent rules and enforcement, everything on the internet turns sour.

— farhad manjoo, New York Times, "How Net Neutrality Actually Ended Long Before This Week," 11 June 2018
After Hurricane Andrew’s winds devastated Florida in 1992, the state instituted stringent rules about building strength and windows.

— adam rogers, WIRED, "Hurricane Season 2018 Has a Lot to Learn From Last Year," 1 June 2018
These moves reinforce the state’s role as a progressive harbinger of more stringent environmental standards.

— patrick sisson, Curbed, "California first in nation to require solar panels on new homes," 10 May 2018
California has, since 1970, held a waiver under the federal Clean Air Act to create its own, more-stringent pollution rules.

— david r. baker, San Francisco Chronicle, "California, Trump barrel toward showdown over fuel standards," 27 Apr. 2018
Consider putting in place more stringent rules around the use of emojis in external communications, e.g. with customers, suppliers, governmental agencies, etc.

— daniel e. burke, Cincinnati.com, "Emojis in the workplace – a cautionary tale😯," 27 Apr. 2018
Facebook is instituting more changes -- including more stringent rules for issue ads -- as steps to thwart election interference.

— mike snider, USA TODAY, "Facebook tightens issue ads, political ads to prevent election interference," 6 Apr. 2018
Cities and counties in both states can opt out of allowing delivery or set more stringent rules, adding further complication.

— sophie quinton, Anchorage Daily News, "Pizza, pad thai and pot: Home delivery of marijuana is legal in these states," 4 Apr. 2018
Many of these companies with very fuel-efficient lineups earn revenue from selling emissions and efficiency credits to other manufacturers that aren’t able to comply with the stringent rules.

— umair irfan, Vox, "The EPA’s fuel standard rollback will hurt clean carmakers like Tesla," 2 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'stringent.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

How Should You Use stringent?

Words that are synonymous with stringent include rigid, which implies uncompromising inflexibility ("rigid rules of conduct"), and rigorous, which suggests hardship and difficulty ("the rigorous training of firefighters"). Also closely related is strict, which emphasizes undeviating conformity to rules, standards, or requirements ("strict enforcement of the law"). Stringent usually involves severe, tight restrictions or limitations ("the college has stringent admissions rules"). That's logical. After all, rigorous and rigid are both derived from rigēre, the Latin word meaning "to be stiff," and stringent and strict developed from the Latin verb stringere, meaning "to bind tight."