Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Origin: stride

straddle

 verb
     
strad‧dle [transitive]
1 to sit or stand with your legs on either side of someone or something:
The photo shows him dressed in leather, straddling a motorbike.
2 if something straddles a line, road, or river, part of it is on one side and part on the other side
straddle something between something
Mount Elgon straddles the border between Kenya and Uganda.
3 to include different areas of activity, groups, time etc:
Her research straddles mathematics and social sciences.
immigrants straddling two cultures
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary