I feel that the strain is becoming too much for me.

The results, he said, would indicate how widespread the new strains had become.

Eventually the strain becomes to great and the plates rapidly slide past each other.

In the absence of much real work, the partisan strains are becoming serious.

"The strains eventually became deep enough that the first lady's team held a retreat in the winter of 2010 to discuss the problem."

As technicians have left, the strain on others has become greater.

In the crisis simulation, the strain of keeping his mouth shut became more than he could bear.

The strain was becoming more severe than he cared about.

Already the strains in his relationship with Southey were becoming evident.

But since Sept. 11, the strains among those same people have become less playful and more complex.