English · Idiom Candidate

strain every nerve

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Make a great effort to do something

Literally: stretch every nerve

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

Their knowledge of society had taught these men that there was a huge audience that wanted to laugh and that comedians had to strain every nerve and to try every joke in order to release that laughter.

Vincent strained every nerve to turn himself into a draughtsman acceptable to the illustrated papers, and the strain showed.

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Equivalents & related

Near equivalent gắng sức (verb) to make every effort; to do one's best; to try hard; to strain every nerve Tiếng Việt Near equivalent make every effort Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review. English · via gắng sức Near equivalent do one's best To perform to the highest level of one's ability English · via gắng sức

Lighter cards are two steps away in the meaning graph — equivalents of equivalents, reached via the entry shown on the card.

Common questions

What does “strain every nerve” mean?

Make a great effort to do something Literally: stretch every nerve

Is “strain every nerve” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

What is the closest equivalent?

“gắng sức” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.