strained | Definition of strained

Synonyms and Antonyms of strained

lacking in natural or spontaneous quality

I took the complaint manager's strained smile to mean I wasn't a welcome sight

Synonyms of strained

affected, artificial, assumed, bogus, contrived, factitious, fake, false, feigned, forced, mechanical, mock, phony (also phoney), plastic, pretended, pseudo, put-on, sham, simulated, spurious, unnatural

Words Related to strained

automatic, canned, concocted, fabricated, hokey, labored, manufactured, pat, unauthentic, unreal, unrealistic

double-dealing, empty, facile, hollow, hypocritical, insincere, left-handed, mealy, mealymouthed, two-faced, unctuous

exaggerated, histrionic, melodramatic, overacted, overdone, theatrical (also theatric)

cute, cutesy, genteel, goody-goody, mincing, overrefined, simpering

conventional, formal, impersonal, inflexible, rigid, stiff, stylized, wooden

artful, calculated, conscious, cultivated, deliberate, premeditated, studied

Near Antonyms of strained

authentic, bona fide, real, realistic, right, true

honest, ingenuous, sincere, unpretending

easy, effortless, smooth

extemporaneous, impromptu, impulsive, instinctive, unconscious, unprompted, unrehearsed, unstudied

Antonyms of strained

artless, genuine, natural, spontaneous, unaffected, uncontrived, unfeigned, unforced