Strained1. (imp. & p. p.) of Strain.
2. (a.) Subjected to great or excessive tension; wrenched; weakened; as, strained relations between old friends.
3. (a.) Done or produced with straining or excessive effort; as, his wit was strained.
Thesaurus Entries
Herculean, agitated, all-overish, anxious, anxioused up, apprehensive, arduous, artificial, awkward, backbreaking, biased, bothered, burdensome, chill, chilly, cold, concerned, cooked, cool, crushing, difficult, disaccordant, disquieted, distant, disturbed, doctored, dragged out, drawn, drawn out, effortful, elongated, extended, farfetched, fearful, forced, foreboding, frosty, garbled, grueling, hard-earned, hard-fought, heavy, hefty, icy, improbable, in a pucker, in a stew, incompatible, inhospitable, inimical, insincere, killing, labored, laborious, lengthened, misgiving, misquoted, misrepresented, nervous, on tenterhooks, onerous, operose, oppressive, out-of-the-way, overanxious, overapprehensive, painful, perturbed, perverted, prolongated, prolonged, protracted, pulled, punishing, put-on, quite another thing, remote, self-conscious, slanted, solicitous, something else again, spun out, stiff, straggling, strenuous, stretched, stretched out, stretched tight, strung out, suspenseful, taut, tense, tight, toilsome, tortured, tough, troubled, troublesome, twisted, unamiable, unamicable, uncomfortable, uncordial, under a strain, uneasy, unfriendly, ungenial, unharmonious, unnatural, unrelaxed, unsociable, uphill, uptight, wearisome, zealous