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:

Scott also has many fine qualities, and the entire Slate team looks forward to straining them to the limit.
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.
"Hi, general," Johnson says, straining to be polite.
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."
The most poignant parts of her books detail the pressures Scarpetta faces as an executive who's responsible for the welfare of her subordinates but under ruthless pressure to deliver results; the impossibility of sorting through overwhelming floods of information and straining for an educated guess; the sadness of a life lived in helicopters and planes rather than in hotels; the inadequacy of colleagues who function like family but aren't.