Rip vs. Strip: What's the Difference?
By Janet White || Updated on May 20, 2024
Rip refers to tearing or pulling something apart quickly and forcefully, while strip means removing a covering or layer from something systematically and usually carefully.
Key Differences
Rip means to tear or pull something apart quickly and with force. This term is often used when something is being divided or destroyed in a hasty manner, such as ripping a piece of paper or fabric. Strip, on the other hand, means to remove a covering or layer from something systematically and usually more carefully. This term is commonly used when referring to the process of taking off layers, such as paint from a wall or clothing from a body.
Both terms involve the removal of material, but rip emphasizes a quick, often forceful action, whereas strip suggests a more methodical and controlled process.
Comparison Chart
Definition
Tear or pull apart quickly and forcefully
Remove a covering or layer systematically and carefully
Typical Usage
Tearing paper, fabric, etc.
Removing paint, clothing, etc.
Action Nature
Quick and forceful
Systematic and careful
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Example Phrase
"He ripped the letter."
"She stripped the wallpaper."
Context
Destructive or urgent action
Methodical or careful removal
Rip and Strip Definitions
Rip
A stretch of water in a river, estuary, or tidal channel made rough by waves meeting an opposing current.
Strip
To remove a covering or layer from something systematically.
She stripped the old varnish from the table.
Rip
A rip current.
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Strip
To remove everything from an area.
They stripped the room bare before renovating.
Rip
A dissolute person.
Strip
To dismantle or take apart.
He stripped the engine to repair it.
Rip
An old or worthless horse.
Strip
To remove clothing or covering from
Stripped the beds.
Rip
A tear (in paper, etc.).
Strip
To remove or take off (clothing or covering)
Stripped off his shirt.
Rip
A type of strong, rough tide or current.
Strip
To remove an exterior coating, as of paint or varnish, from
Stripped the cabinets.
Rip
(Australia, New Zealand) A rip current: a strong outflow of surface water, away from the shore, that returns water from incoming waves.
Strip
To remove the leaves from the stalks of (tobacco, for example).
Rip
(slang) A comical, embarrassing, or hypocritical event or action.
Strip
To clear of a natural covering or growth; make bare
Strip a field.
Rip
(slang) A hit (dose) of marijuana.
Strip
To deprive of possessions, office, rank, privileges, or honors; divest
The court stripped him of his property.
Rip
A black mark given for substandard schoolwork.
Strip
To rob of wealth or property; plunder or despoil
Stripped the palace of its treasures.
Rip
(slang) Something unfairly expensive, a rip-off.
Strip
To remove equipment, furnishings, or accessories from
They stripped down the car to reduce its weight.
Rip
Data or audio copied from a CD, DVD, Internet stream, etc. to a hard drive, portable device, etc.
Some of these CD rips don't sound very good: what bitrate did you use?
Strip
To remove nonessential detail from; reduce to essentials
The director stripped down her style of filmmaking.
Rip
Something ripped off or stolen; a work resulting from plagiarism.
Strip
To dismantle (a firearm, for example) piece by piece.
Rip
A kind of glissando leading up to the main note to be played.
Strip
To damage or break the threads of (a screw, for example) or the teeth of (a gear).
Rip
Ellipsis of ripsaw.
Strip
To draw and discard the first drops of milk from the udder of (a cow or goat, for example) at the start of milking.
Rip
A joyride.
Strip
To draw the last drops of milk from the udder of (a cow or goat, for example) at the end of milking.
Rip
A wicker basket for fish.
Strip
To extract the milt or roe from (a live fish).
Rip
A worthless horse; a nag.
Strip
To draw in (a fishing line) by hand, as between casts with a fly rod.
Rip
An immoral man; a rake, a scoundrel.
Strip
To mount (a photographic positive or negative) on paper to be used in making a printing plate.
Rip
(transitive) To divide or separate the parts of (especially something flimsy, such as paper or fabric), by cutting or tearing; to tear off or out by violence.
To rip a garment; to rip up a floor
Strip
To undress completely.
Rip
(intransitive) To tear apart; to rapidly become two parts.
My shirt ripped when it was caught on a bramble.
Strip
To perform a striptease.
Rip
(transitive) To get by, or as if by, cutting or tearing.
Strip
To fall away or be removed; peel
The wallpaper strips away easily.
Rip
To move quickly and destructively.
Strip
To cut or tear into strips.
Rip
(woodworking) To cut wood along (parallel to) the grain.
Strip
A striptease.
Rip
To copy data from a CD, DVD, Internet stream, etc., to a hard drive, portable device, etc.
Strip
A long narrow piece, usually of uniform width
A strip of paper.
Strips of beef.
Rip
To take a "hit" of marijuana.
Strip
A long narrow region of land or body of water.
Rip
(slang) To fart.
Strip
A comic strip.
Rip
To mock or criticize (someone or something). (often used with on and into)
Strip
An airstrip.
Rip
To steal; to rip off.
Strip
An area, as along a busy street or highway, that is lined with a great number and variety of commercial establishments.
Rip
To move or act fast; to rush headlong.
Strip
(countable) A long, thin piece of land; any long, thin area.
The countries were in dispute over the ownership of a strip of desert about 100 metres wide.
Rip
(archaic) To tear up for search or disclosure, or for alteration; to search to the bottom; to discover; to disclose; usually with up.
Strip
A long, thin piece of any material; any such material collectively.
Papier mache is made from strips of paper.
Squeeze a strip of glue along the edge and then press down firmly.
I have some strip left over after fitting out the kitchen.
Rip
To surf extremely well.
Strip
A comic strip.
Rip
A wicker fish basket.
Strip
A landing strip.
Rip
A rent made by ripping, esp. by a seam giving way; a tear; a place torn; laceration.
Strip
A strip steak.
Rip
A term applied to a mean, worthless thing or person, as to a scamp, a debauchee, or a prostitute, or a worn-out horse.
Strip
(US) A street with multiple shopping or entertainment possibilities.
Rip
A body of water made rough by the meeting of opposing tides or currents.
Strip
(fencing) The playing area, roughly 14 meters by 2 meters.
Rip
To divide or separate the parts of, by cutting or tearing; to tear or cut open or off; to tear off or out by violence; as, to rip a garment by cutting the stitches; to rip off the skin of a beast; to rip up a floor; - commonly used with up, open, off.
Strip
The uniform of a football team, or the same worn by supporters.
Rip
To get by, or as by, cutting or tearing.
He 'll rip the fatal secret from her heart.
Strip
(mining) A trough for washing ore.
Rip
To tear up for search or disclosure, or for alteration; to search to the bottom; to discover; to disclose; - usually with up.
They ripped up all that had been done from the beginning of the rebellion.
For brethern to debate and rip up their falling out in the ear of a common enemy . . . is neither wise nor comely.
Strip
The issuing of a projectile from a rifled gun without acquiring the spiral motion.
Rip
To saw (wood) lengthwise of the grain or fiber.
Strip
(television) A television series aired at the same time daily (or at least on Mondays to Fridays), so that it appears as a strip straight across the weekly schedule.
Rip
A dissolute man in fashionable society
Strip
(finance) An investment strategy involving simultaneous trade with one call and two put options on the same security at the same strike price, similar to but more bearish than a straddle.
Rip
An opening made forcibly as by pulling apart;
There was a rip in his pants
She had snags in her stockings
Strip
The act of removing one's clothes; a striptease.
She stood up on the table and did a strip.
Rip
A stretch of turbulent water in a river or the sea caused by one current flowing into or across another current
Strip
Denotes a version of a game in which losing players must progressively remove their clothes.
Strip poker; strip Scrabble
Rip
The act of rending or ripping or splitting something;
He gave the envelope a vigorous rip
Strip
(transitive) To remove or take away, often in strips or stripes.
Norm will strip the old varnish before painting the chair.
Rip
Tear or be torn violently;
The curtain ripped from top to bottom
Pull the cooked chicken into strips
Strip
To take off clothing.
Seeing that no one else was about, he stripped and dived into the river.
Rip
Move precipitously or violently;
The tornado ripped along the coast
Strip
(intransitive) To perform a striptease.
In the seedy club, a group of drunken men were watching a woman stripping.
Rip
Cut (wood) along the grain
Strip
(transitive) To take away something from (someone or something); to plunder; to divest.
The athlete was stripped of his medal after failing a drugs test.
They had stripped the forest bare, with not a tree left standing.
Don't park your car here overnight, otherwise it will be stripped by morning.
Rip
Criticize or abuse strongly and violently;
The candidate ripped into his opponent mercilessly
Strip
(transitive) To remove cargo from (a container).
Rip
To tear or pull apart quickly and forcefully.
He ripped the contract into pieces.
Strip
(transitive) To remove (the thread or teeth) from a screw, nut, or gear, especially inadvertently by overtightening.
Don't tighten that bolt any more or you'll strip the thread.
The screw is stripped.
Rip
To tear a hole or split in something.
She accidentally ripped her dress.
Strip
(intransitive) To fail in the thread; to lose the thread, as a bolt, screw, or nut.
Rip
To move forcefully through something.
The boat ripped through the waves.
Strip
(transitive) To fire (a bullet or ball) from a rifle such that it fails to pick up a spin from the rifling.
Rip
To cut or tear away forcefully.
The dog ripped the toy apart.
Strip
(intransitive) To fail to pick up a spin from the grooves in a rifle barrel.
Rip
To cause emotional pain or distress.
The sad news ripped at his heart.
Strip
(transitive) To remove color from hair, cloth, etc. to prepare it to receive new color.
Strip
To remove all cards of a particular suit from another player. (See also strip-squeeze.)
Strip
(transitive) To empty (tubing) by applying pressure to the outside of (the tubing) and moving that pressure along (the tubing).
Strip
(transitive) To milk a cow, especially by stroking and compressing the teats to draw out the last of the milk.
Strip
To press out the ripe roe or milt from fishes, for artificial fecundation.
Strip
To run a television series at the same time daily (or at least on Mondays to Fridays), so that it appears as a strip straight across the weekly schedule.
Strip
To pare off the surface of (land) in strips.
Strip
(transitive) To remove the overlying earth from (a deposit).
Strip
To pass; to get clear of; to outstrip.
Strip
To remove the insulation from a wire/cable.
Strip
To remove the metal coating from (a plated article), as by acids or electrolytic action.
Strip
To remove fibre, flock, or lint from; said of the teeth of a card when it becomes partly clogged.
Strip
To pick the cured leaves from the stalks of (tobacco) and tie them into "hands".
Strip
To remove the midrib from (tobacco leaves).
Strip
To deprive; to bereave; to make destitute; to plunder; especially, to deprive of a covering; to skin; to peel; as, to strip a man of his possession, his rights, his privileges, his reputation; to strip one of his clothes; to strip a beast of his skin; to strip a tree of its bark.
And strippen her out of her rude array.
They stripped Joseph out of his coat.
Opinions which . . . no clergyman could have avowed without imminent risk of being stripped of his gown.
Strip
To divest of clothing; to uncover.
Before the folk herself strippeth she.
Strip your sword stark naked.
Strip
To dismantle; as, to strip a ship of rigging, spars, etc.
Strip
To pare off the surface of, as land, in strips.
Strip
To deprive of all milk; to milk dry; to draw the last milk from; hence, to milk with a peculiar movement of the hand on the teats at the last of a milking; as, to strip a cow.
Strip
To pass; to get clear of; to outstrip.
When first they stripped the Malean promontory.
Before he reached it he was out of breath,And then the other stripped him.
Strip
To pull or tear off, as a covering; to remove; to wrest away; as, to strip the skin from a beast; to strip the bark from a tree; to strip the clothes from a man's back; to strip away all disguisses.
To strip bad habits from a corrupted heart, is stripping off the skin.
Strip
To tear off (the thread) from a bolt or nut; as, the thread is stripped.
Strip
To remove the metal coating from (a plated article), as by acids or electrolytic action.
Strip
To remove fiber, flock, or lint from; - said of the teeth of a card when it becomes partly clogged.
Strip
To pick the cured leaves from the stalks of (tobacco) and tie them into "hands"; to remove the midrib from (tobacco leaves).
Strip
To take off, or become divested of, clothes or covering; to undress.
Strip
A narrow piece, or one comparatively long; as, a strip of cloth; a strip of land.
Strip
A trough for washing ore.
Strip
The issuing of a projectile from a rifled gun without acquiring the spiral motion.
Strip
A relatively long narrow piece of something;
He felt a flat strip of muscle
Strip
Artifact consisting of a narrow flat piece of material
Strip
An airfield without normal airport facilities
Strip
A sequence of drawings telling a story in a newspaper or comic book
Strip
Thin piece of wood or metal
Strip
A form of erotic entertainment in which a dancer gradually undresses to music;
She did a strip right in front of everyone
Strip
Take away possessions from someone;
The Nazis stripped the Jews of all their assets
Strip
Get undressed;
Please don't undress in front of everybody!
She strips in front of strangers every night for a living
Strip
Remove the surface from;
Strip wood
Strip
Remove substances from by a percolating liquid;
Leach the soil
Strip
Lay bare;
Denude a forest
Strip
Steal goods; take as spoils;
During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners
Strip
Remove all contents or possession from, or empty completely;
The boys cleaned the sandwich platters
The trees were cleaned of apples by the storm
Strip
Strip the cured leaves from;
Strip tobacco
Strip
Remove the thread (of screws)
Strip
Remove a constituent from a liquid
Strip
Take off or remove;
Strip a wall of its wallpaper
Strip
Draw the last milk (of cows)
Strip
Remove (someone's or one's own) clothes;
The nurse quickly undressed the accident victim
She divested herself of her outdoor clothes
He disinvested himself of his garments
Strip
To deprive someone of something.
The scandal stripped him of his title.
FAQs
What does rip mean?
Rip means to tear or pull something apart quickly and forcefully.
What is an example of rip in a sentence?
"He ripped the letter into shreds."
What does strip mean?
Strip means to remove a covering or layer from something systematically and carefully.
Can rip and strip be used interchangeably?
No, they describe different types of actions; rip is forceful and quick, while strip is methodical and careful.
Is rip always destructive?
Rip usually implies a destructive action, but it can also describe rapid movement through something.
What is an example of strip in a sentence?
"She stripped the old wallpaper from the walls."
Does rip have any non-physical meanings?
Yes, rip can also refer to causing emotional pain or distress.
Can you strip a room quickly?
While you can strip a room quickly, it usually involves a systematic removal of items.
Can strip refer to removing clothing?
Yes, strip can refer to taking off clothing.
Can you rip fabric without damaging it?
Typically, ripping fabric damages it because it involves tearing it apart forcefully.
What is a common context for using the word strip?
Strip is commonly used in contexts involving removing layers, like paint or wallpaper.
Is strip always a careful process?
Strip generally implies a more careful and methodical process, though it can vary depending on context.
Can strip be used in a non-physical sense?
Yes, strip can mean depriving someone of something, like a title or privilege.
What tools might you use to strip paint?
Tools for stripping paint include scrapers, sanders, and chemical paint removers.
Can strip refer to dismantling equipment?
Yes, strip can refer to taking apart equipment or machinery.
What is a common context for using the word rip?
Rip is commonly used in contexts involving tearing paper or fabric.
Does rip imply urgency?
Yes, rip often implies a sense of urgency or haste.
Can strip imply removing rights or titles?
Yes, strip can imply depriving someone of rights, titles, or privileges.
Is stripping paint a quick process?
Stripping paint is usually a methodical and time-consuming process.
Is ripping always a negative action?
Not necessarily; while it often implies destruction, it can also describe a necessary or deliberate action, like ripping open a package.
About Author
Written by
Janet WhiteJanet White has been an esteemed writer and blogger for Difference Wiki. Holding a Master's degree in Science and Medical Journalism from the prestigious Boston University, she has consistently demonstrated her expertise and passion for her field. When she's not immersed in her work, Janet relishes her time exercising, delving into a good book, and cherishing moments with friends and family.
