📒 an act of hitting a ball, for example with a bat or racket
- What a beautiful stroke!
- He won by two strokes (= in golf, by taking two fewer strokes than his opponent).
- He played some powerful backhand strokes throughout the game.
📒 a single movement of the arm when hitting somebody/something
- His punishment was six strokes of the cane.
📒 a single successful action or event
- Your idea was a stroke of genius.
- It was a stroke of luck that I found you here.
- It was a bold stroke to reveal the identity of the murderer on the first page.
📒 a sudden serious illness when a blood vessel (= tube) in the brain bursts (= breaks open) or is blocked, which can cause death or the loss of the ability to move or to speak clearly
- to have/suffer a stroke
- The stroke left him partly paralysed.
- Smoking increases the risk of stroke.
📒 any of a series of repeated movements in swimming or rowing
- She took a few more strokes to reach the bank.
- He swam with long powerful strokes.
- You can't swim more than four strokes before you reach the other side.
📒 a style of swimming
- Butterfly is the only stroke I can't do.
📒 the person who sets the speed at which everyone in a boat rows
📒 an act of moving your hand gently over a surface, usually several times
- He gave the cat a stroke.
📒 a mark made by moving a pen, brush, etc. once across a surface
- to paint with fine brush strokes
- At the stroke of a pen (= by signing something) they removed thousands of people from the welfare system.
- She caught his likeness with a few bold brush strokes.
📒 each of the sounds made by a clock or bell giving the hours
- At the first stroke it will be 9 o'clock exactly.
- on the stroke of three (= at 3 o’clock exactly)
📒 with a single immediate action
- They threatened to cancel the whole project at a stroke.
- They lost half their fortune at a stroke.
📒 to make somebody make a mistake or hesitate in what they are doing
- My speech was going well until I was put off my stroke by an interruption.