tight-assed

[tahyt-ast]

adjective

Slang: Vulgar.

1. rigidly self-controlled, inhibited, or conservative in attitude.

Word History and Origins

Origin of tight-assed¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

“That’s good, Bull. But that tight-assed squid is going to have fun writing a conduct report on you that could end your career if I don’t figure out a way to stop it.”

Read more on Literature

Then there are irritants purposefully written to be the heart of the comedy, annoyances that take the form of Jennifer Garner’s Kathryn McSorley-Jodell, who would be hilarious if she were surrounded by characters not so easily brought low by Kathryn’s tight-assed hold on every element of her world.

Read more on Salon

“I was pretty tight-assed about being a pianist,” she recalled.

Read more on The New Yorker

Image: Netflix Then there’s that insane scene in the final episode between the neglected Mrs. Wheeler and the psychopathic, tight-assed newcomer, Billy Hargrove.

Read more on The Verge

When I hear him on his final album covering Rufus Wainwright’s “Going to a Town,” singing, “Tell me, do you really think you go to hell for having loved?” or Elton John’s “Idol,” singing “He was tight-assed/ Walking on broken glass/ Highly prized in the wallet size/ The No. 1 crush in a schoolgirl’s eyes,” I drink in how beautifully he sings those lines.

Read more on Slate