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.
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
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- 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
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. In addition to the idioms beginning with tight
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