View source for strike

{{BNC1000HW}}

=== Pronunciation ===
* {{IPA|/straɪk/}}
* {{audio|en-us-strike.ogg|Audio (US)}}

== Verb ==
{{verb2|strike|strikes|struck|struck|striking}}
# {{transitive}} When you [[hit]] something, you '''strike''' it.
#: ''If you '''strike''' a [[person]], it will [[hurt]].''
#: ''He '''struck''' the boy with his hand.''
# When an idea strikes you, it [[occur]]s to you [[sudden]]ly or with [[force]].
#: ''To [[play]] with [[fire]] '''strikes''' me as a bad idea.''
# When a [[clock]] [[ring]]s a [[bell]] to tell you the [[time]], the clock '''strikes''' the time.
#: ''The [[child]]ren ran out of the [[school]] when the clock '''struck''' [[twelve]].''

{{verb2|strike|strikes|struck|stricken|striking}}
# A [[disease]] can '''strike''' a person.  That person is '''stricken''' with disease.
#: The child was '''stricken''' with a serious [[blood]] disease.
# When you '''strike''' a [[part]] from a [[document]], it is '''stricken''' from the document.
#: ''The [[error]]s were stricken from the [[dictionary]]''.
# When [[bad]] [[luck]] '''strikes''' you, you are '''stricken''' with bad luck.

=== Usage notes ===
Most of the time the past participle of “strike” is “struck.” The [[exception]]s are that you can be stricken with guilt, a misfortune, a wound or a disease; and a passage in a document can be stricken out. The rest of the time, stick with “struck.” This rule does not seem to be authoritative. The past participle is stricken.

When dealing with the verb "to strike" in a labour union context, the use of the past participle "struck" sounds awkward at best, and is confusing. If you write "the union struck three times since the 1970s" the reader is left to wonder "struck what?- a deal? or something else?". In such situations the use of one of the following locutions is most often used: "went on strike", "took strike action" to express the simple past.

== Noun ==
{{noun}}
# {{countable}} When a group of people stop [[work]]ing to improve or defend their working conditions or pay, they go on '''strike'''.{{synonym|walkout}}
#: ''Every [[secretary]] at the [[company]] went on '''strike''' for better [[pay]].''