tight-mouthed
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of tight-mouthed
First recorded in 1925–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In lieu of ripeness, seed heads throughout the gardens present an eerie, ossified architecture: tight-mouthed trumpets of Iris sibirica, alliums like exploding stars.
From New York Times ● Oct. 11, 2019
Is it robust and plain-speaking, proud of its comic swagger, or is there something tight-mouthed in its imperative, with a hint of “or else” hanging off the end?
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 20, 2015
McKayla Maroney, women’s vault, gymanstics, 2012: Maroney became an Internet meme after pulling a dour, tight-mouthed face on the medal stand.
From Slate ● Feb. 22, 2014
Short, tight-mouthed, efficient as a gyrocompass and untiring as the Mediterranean sun, Sir Andrew spent most of his years on the way up aboard destroyers, mostly in the Mediterranean.
From Time Magazine Archive
He was sullen and tight-mouthed for the most part until delirium got him.
From The Everlasting Whisper by Gregory, Jackson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
