Definition

1. Verb:

   • To stretch taut: To pull something, such as a rope, fabric, or material, until it is tight and without slack.
   • To strain: To extend or tighten something to its limit, often creating tension.

2. Adjective (in compound forms):

   • Taut / Stretched: Describing the state of something that has been pulled tight.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Họ phải kéo căng dây thừng để dựng lều. (They had to stretch the rope taut to pitch the tent.)
  • Đừng kéo căng vải, nó sẽ bị rách. (Don't pull the fabric too tight; it will tear.)
  • Căng thẳng chính trị đang kéo căng mối quan hệ giữa hai nước. (Political tensions are straining the relationship between the two countries.)

Advanced Usage

• Used in technical or physical contexts to describe the application of tensile force.
  • Kỹ sư cần tính toán lực để kéo căng cáp thép. (The engineer needs to calculate the force to tension the steel cable.)

Variants and Related Words

• Căng (adj): Tight, taut, tense.

  • Mặt trống rất căng. (The drumhead is very taut.)

• Lực kéo căng (n): Tensile force, extensive force.

  • Lực kéo căng của sợi cáp này rất lớn. (The tensile force of this cable is very great.)

Synonyms

• To tighten: To make something more fixed or firm.
• To tension: To apply a pulling force.
• To strain: To stretch or exert to the utmost.

Related Idioms

• Kéo căng sợi dây: To stretch the string (metaphor for pushing a situation to its breaking point).
  • Cuộc đàm phán đang kéo căng sợi dây. (The negotiations are stretching the string [are at a breaking point].)

1. Extensive
   • Lực kéo căng
     Extensive force