Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "bestride" [be•stride]

  • To sit or stand on with the legs astride; straddle. (verb-transitive)
  • To dominate by position; tower over: "Hitler's ghost, the specter that ... bestrides mid-twentieth-century history” ( Economist). (verb-transitive)
  • Archaic To step or stride across. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "bestride" in a sentence
  • "Now when Kanmakan heard these words, he cried out, saying, “O villain, this I bestride is the steed whereof ye speak and after which ye seek, and ye would do battle with me for his sake’ So come out against me, all of you at once, and do you dourest for the nonce!”"
  • "It's astonishing that our political leaders from both parties apparently believe that the United States can continue to bestride the world like an imperial colossus remaking entire societies in the image put forth by the Council of Foreign Relations or the American Enterprise Institute while at the same time becoming a pauper state that cannot even provide health care for its senior citizens."
  • "( "Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world/like a Colossus ....")"