stropping

verb

present participle of strop
as in sharpening
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 stropping
  1. sharpening
  2. grinding
Verb
  • Our editorial focus is sharpening around Black women as travelers, entrepreneurs, cultural architects, and community builders.
    — Daphne Bryson Jackson, Miami Herald, 13 July 2026
  • Europe’s strategic periphery is not only integral to European security but is actively deepening transatlantic tensions and sharpening intra-European divisions.
    — Galip Dalay, Time, 7 July 2026
Definition of sharpening
Verb
  • With more and more families settling in cities in the second half of the 19th century, camps gave kids a refuge from the oppressive heat, rancid smells and grinding noise of summer in the city.
    — Seth T. Kannarr, Fortune, 13 July 2026
  • If Ryan McMahon really did revive their season with that grinding 12-pitch at bat against Yankee-killing Rays ace Drew Rasmussen last Thursday, what can Brian Cashman do to sufficiently fix the roster for a deep postseason run?
    — Bill Madden, New York Daily News, 11 July 2026
Definition of grinding
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

stropped
stropping
stroppy
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Stropping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stropping. Accessed 20 Jul. 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 raffish

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

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

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?
See More

Popular

See More

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

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

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
child-detective
Spot the Misspelled Word July 2026 Those little red underlines can't help you now...
See All