Meaning & use
strand of hair
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
One single thin thread of hair growing from the head or body.
Grammar: Countable: a strand of hair, strands of hair.
Patterns
- a strand of hair on something
- strands of hair
She found a single strand of hair on her jacket.
A loose strand of hair fell across his face.
The detective collected a strand of hair from the scene.
nouncountable
A small thin group of hairs twisted or held together as part of a hairstyle.
Grammar: Countable: a strand of hair, tied or braided.
Patterns
- a strand of hair behind the ear
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
The stylist twisted a strand of hair around the iron.
He pulled a strand of hair out of the braid.
Word forms
| plural | strands of hair |
|---|
Common combinations
- a stray strand of hair
- A stray strand of hair hung over her eye.
- tuck a strand of hair
- He tucked a strand of hair behind his ear.
- a loose strand of hair
- A loose strand of hair blew in the wind.
- a single strand of hair
- A single strand of hair was left on the comb.
- pull out a strand of hair
- I pulled out a strand of hair that was caught in the zipper.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hair
- Hair is the common word, and can mean one hair or all of it, whereas strand of hair clearly means one thin piece.
- lock
- A lock is a bigger group of hair that falls together, while a strand is one thin thread.
- wisp
- A wisp is a small, thin, light bit of hair, often untidy, while strand is neutral.
- tress
- A tress is a literary word for a long lock of hair, mostly used in poetry.
Word family
Commonly confused: strand of hair or stranded?
strand of hair vs stranded
Stranded means left somewhere without help, which is a different meaning from the thread sense of strand.
Practice
She carefully removed a single ____ of hair from the sweater.
Choose one answer.
A strand is one thin thread. Stranded is an adjective and cannot follow 'a single'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “strand of hair”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.