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:

The United States has had to find ways to extend its reach, straining the limits of its influence.
On June 7, 1996, the Maine Public Radio announcer, reading the midday news report, spoke of a local philanthropist who was doughnutting something-or-other—I did not learn what because I was straining to understand that mysterious verb and, too late, realized donating had been meant.
A writer finds head-spinning confusion at the National Archives, where librarians are straining to keep up with the antiquatedness of old technologies and the information sprawl caused by new ones.
"Hi, general," Johnson says, straining to be polite.
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.