stringent
STRIN-juntadjMeaning strict and exact about rules or standards
Memory hook STRING-ent: rules pulled STRING-tight. Coach Ada keeps her team rules pulled as tight as a string: no slack, no exceptions. Rules that tight are stringent.
The pool has stringent rules: no running, no glass and no swimming without a lifeguard.
In context The lab’s safety rules are stringent; a student who forgets goggles even once is sent out for the day.
Similar strict, rigid, tight, demanding
Opposite lax, lenient, loose
From Latin stringens, “drawing tight,” from stringere, “to bind tight.”