tight

[tahyt]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tight ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, tight·er, tight·est.

firmly or closely fixed in place; not easily moved; secure: a tight knot.

drawn or stretched so as to be tense; taut.

affording little or no extra room; fitting closely, especially too closely: a tight collar.

difficult to deal with or manage: to be in a tight situation.

of such close or compacted texture, or fitted together so closely, as to be impervious to water, air, steam, etc.: a good, tight roof.

concise; terse: a tight style of writing.

firm; rigid: his tight control of the company.

carefully arranged or organized and full; affording little leeway; compact: a tight schedule.

nearly even; close: a tight race.

Informal.

close, as friends; familiar or intimate.
united: The strikers are tight in their refusal to accept the proposed contract.

parsimonious; stingy.

Slang. amazing; cool: Your new place is tight!

Older Slang. drunk; tipsy.

characterized by scarcity or eager demand; costly; limited; restricted: a tight job market; tight money.

Journalism. (of a newspaper) having more news available than is required for or utilizable in a particular issue.

Baseball. inside(def 18).

Scot. and North England. competent or skillful.

tidy.

neatly or well built or made.

adverb, tight·er, tight·est.

in a tight manner; closely; firmly; securely; tensely: Shut the door tight. The shirt fit tight across the shoulders.

soundly or deeply: to sleep tight.

Idioms

sit tight, to take no action.

Origin of tight

1400–50; late Middle English, sandhi variant of Middle English thight dense, solid, tight < Old Norse thēttr (cognate with Old English -thiht firm, solid, Dutch, German dicht tight, close, dense)

Related formstight·ly, adverbtight·ness, nouno·ver·tight, adjectiveo·ver·tight·ly, adverbo·ver·tight·ness, noun

Synonyms for tight

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tight ON THESAURUS.COM

11. close, mean, grasping, frugal, sparing.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for tighter

compact, strong, stiff, solid, strained, sturdy, steady, fast, inflexible, tense, taut, stable, quick, rigid, thick, narrow, cramped, tightened, airtight, short

Examples from the Web for tighter

Contemporary Examples of tighter

I was drawn to The Class for different reasons—chiefly, the pipe dream of achieving a tighter and tauter backside.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze
Lizzie Crocker
January 9, 2015
Second, in the tighter races, the candidates are feeling the heat.
How Long Can the Republicans Hide The Crazy?
Dean Obeidallah
September 20, 2014
An earlier Marquette Law School poll showed a tighter race, but with Burke again easily beating Walker by 18 points among women.
What Do Women Want? Not the GOP
Lloyd Green
September 8, 2014
The former congresswoman has advocated for tighter gun laws after being the victim of a near-fatal shooting in Tucson in 2011.
Ice Bucket Challenge Leads to Political Trolling
Asawin Suebsaeng
August 21, 2014
But maybe no star walks a tighter rope than Melissa McCarthy.
The Trials of ‘Tammy’: Stop Policing Melissa McCarthy’s Body
Teo Bugbee
July 7, 2014

Historical Examples of tighter

The more he pulled and tugged the tighter they seemed to become.
Tom Swift and his Electric Runabout
Victor Appleton
I don't know whether you have ever been in a tighter corner than that, Bertie.
The Stark Munro Letters
J. Stark Munro
Why, yes, I did hear that they were in a tighter box than ever, financially.
Cap'n Warren's Wards
Joseph C. Lincoln
But they only clung the tighter, and now threw their arms about each other.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930
Various
But she only held her the tighter; he only grinned the more.
The Twins of Suffering Creek
Ridgwell Cullum

British Dictionary definitions for tighter

tight

adjective

stretched or drawn so as not to be loose; tauta tight cord

fitting or covering in a close mannera tight dress

held, made, fixed, or closed firmly and securelya tight knot

of close and compact construction or organization, esp so as to be impervious to water, air, etc
(in combination)watertight; airtight

unyielding or stringentto keep a tight hold on resources

cramped or constricteda tight fit

mean or miserly

difficult and problematica tight situation

hardly profitablea tight bargain

economics

(of a commodity) difficult to obtain; in excess demand
(of funds, money, etc) difficult and expensive to borrow because of high demand or restrictive monetary policy
(of markets) characterized by excess demand or scarcity with prices tending to riseCompare easy (def. 8)

(of a match or game) very close or even

(of a team or group, esp of a pop group) playing well together, in a disciplined coordinated way

informal drunk

informal (of a person) showing tension

archaic, or dialect neat

adverb

in a close, firm, or secure waypull it tight

sit tight

to wait patiently; bide one's time
to maintain one's position, stand, or opinion firmly

sleep tight to sleep soundly

Derived Formstightly, adverbtightness, noun

Word Origin for tight

C14: probably variant of thight, from Old Norse thēttr close; related to Middle High German dīhte thick

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for tighter

tight

adj.

mid-15c., "dense, close, compact," from Middle English thight, from Old Norse þettr "watertight, close in texture, solid," from Proto-Germanic *thenkhtuz (cf. second element in Old English meteþiht "stout from eating;" Middle High German dihte "dense, thick," German dicht "dense, tight," Old High German gidigan, German gediegen "genuine, solid, worthy"), from PIE root *tenk- "to become firm, curdle, thicken" (cf. Irish techt "curdled, coagulated," Lithuanian tankus "close, tight," Persian tang "tight," Sanskrit tanakti "draws together, contracts").

Sense of "drawn, stretched" is from 1570s; meaning "fitting closely" (as of garments) is from 1779; that of "evenly matched" (of a contest, bargain, etc.) is from 1828, American English; that of "drunk" is from 1830; that of "close, sympathetic" is from 1956. Tight-assed "unwilling to relax" is attested from 1903. Tight-laced is recorded from 1741 in both the literal and figurative senses. Tight-lipped is first attested 1876.

Idioms and Phrases with tighter

tight

In addition to the idioms beginning with tight

tight as a drum
tight as a tick
tighten one's belt
tighten the screws
tight rein on, a
tight ship
tight spot
tight squeeze

also see:

in a bind (tight corner)
sit tight