Words similar to straining

Example sentences for: straining

How can you use “straining” in a sentence? Here are some example sentences to help you improve your vocabulary:

A Che who, like any ordinary communist politician, had never killed anyone; a Che who had survived his guerrilla adventures, and was today an elderly figure, administering some grim bureaucracy for Fidel Castro or, alternatively, writing books at home in Argentina, surrounded by his anti-communist grandchildren--a Che like that would cause no stir at all today, and writers around the world would not be straining their brains to draw ever finer distinctions between the man's calamitous influence and some undefinable greatness.
Washington Square is said to compare favorably with last winter's revisionist Portrait of a Lady , since it "respects James' complexities and bitter ironies" (David Ansen, Newsweek ). Critics also praise its "brusque, energetic pace" (Janet Maslin, the New York Times ) and Leigh's "heartbreakingly good" performance ( People ). The New Republic 's Stanley Kauffmann dissents, calling the film "ill at ease, uncomfortable, straining for effect."
Baffled and disoriented, we pick our way among these versions of the truth, straining for a synthesis that would permit some hope for the couple's future.
The United States has had to find ways to extend its reach, straining the limits of its influence.
Scott also has many fine qualities, and the entire Slate team looks forward to straining them to the limit.