strict

(redirected from strictest)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia.

in the strict(est) sense

Following the narrowest and more precise interpretation (of something). While not correct in the strictest sense, the word has been widely accepted among most English speakers. I wouldn't call her a socialist in the strict sense, but some of her beliefs definitely lean that way.
See also: sense

in confidence

In private; with the understanding that the other person or people will not reveal what was said. (Sometimes used with the modifiers "strict" or "the strictest.") I can't believe you told your husband about my affair; I told that to you in confidence! Gentlemen, please be aware that this meeting is being held in the strictest confidence.
See also: confidence

in confidence

Also, in strict confidence. Privately, on condition that what is said will not be revealed. For example, The doctor told her in confidence that her mother was terminally ill, or He told us in strict confidence that Gail was pregnant. This idiom was first recorded in 1632. Also see take into one's confidence.
See also: confidence
References in periodicals archive ?
All information passed on to the commissioner will be treated in the strictest confidence and with the utmost sensitivity.
Appeal for help on Trojan Horse
Speaking to Caterer Middle East about halal, Tikku said: "Every municipality checks the halal standards, and as a global multinational you design for the strictest rules in the region.
Mondelez to produce halal items to KSA standards
The West Bengal Government must immediately arrest the accused and ensure that they are given the strictest punishment possible," he said.
Birbhum gang-rape: Manish Tewari asks WB Govt. to give stern punishment to culprits
CONTACT: Allison Deutch, Casting Producer of The World's Strictest Parents, Inc.
The World's Strictest Parents Casting Teens and Parents:
which boasts some of the strictest gun laws in the nation.
The art of self-defense: gun control on trial. (Citings)
In the INFOGEN business model, all patient-specific information remains the property of the subscribing patient and is kept in the strictest confidence.
VALIGEN ACQUIRES BERLIN-BASED INFOGEN AND PHENOTYPE DATABASE
What's interesting is that Braught expressed this affinity with nature--a Romantic endeavor in the strictest sense--in a thoroughly modern painterly language.
ROSS BRAUGHT
In the strictest lexical sense, most health care organizations and delivery systems.
Reader feedback
Just to handle the Ebola virus, scientists must wear space suits and employ the strictest biohazard precautions.
Ebola virus vaccine protects guinea pigs
Remind the client that the CPA will keep all the client's information in strictest confidence, and will not discuss it with the client's spouse or children without permission.
Eight reasons clients give for not wanting to engage in estate planning (and counterarguments CPAs can offer)
A new study shows that New York pays a very heavy price for having one of the strictest rent control laws in the country.
Study says rent control drives out affordable housing
The certification process is extensive and demanding, and comes only with the strictest adherences to Microsoft's quality standards and guidelines.
Nero 7 Awarded Certified for Windows Vista Logo
For grades of steel with the strictest specifications, Jaffre said that iron alternatives such as HBI and DRI--often referred to as scrap substitutes--are preferred by melt shop managers.
Chemistry class. (Ferrous)
Nevertheless, it has one of the strictest school drug-testing policies in the United States--so strict, in fact, that the Supreme Court will decide this spring whether it violates the Constitution.
Testing Frenzy: Drug War Idiocy. (Citings)
Yet if we allow for Sol LeWitt's formulation that "the philosophy of the work is implicit in the work and is not an illustration of any system of philosophy," then, in the strictest sense, Balk's work is something other than classically Conceptual.
Dennis Balk
Idioms browser ?
Full browser ?