go from strength to strength

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

go from strength to strength (third-person singular simple present goes from strength to strength, present participle going from strength to strength, simple past went from strength to strength, past participle gone from strength to strength)

1. (idiomatic) To continue to get stronger, more and more successful.

   The Internet continues to go from strength to strength as it matures, finding new ways to better itself.

   • They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. (King James Version); They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. (New International Version) - Psalms 84:7
   • 1946 November and December, “George Westinghouse, 1846-1914”, in Railway Magazine, page 375:

     From this time onwards, the Westinghouse air brake literally went from strength to strength, and was triumphantly justified in the course of rigorous trials, both on the Pennsylvania Railroad and at Newark-on-Trent in this country.

Usage notes

• Sarcastic use of the phrase is common, sometimes made clear by additional sarcastic words such as intensifiers:

  I burned the casserole, and then broke the cutting board. I'm really going from strength to strength today.

Translations

continue to get stronger

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 繼續變強 / 继续变强 (jìxù biàn qiáng)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: vahvistua vahvistumistaan
• French: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: набира́ть силу (nabirátʹ silu)
• Spanish: crecer en fortaleza