tight·en

(tīt′n)

tr. & intr.v. tight·ened, tight·en·ing, tight·ens

To make or become tight or tighter.

tight′en·er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

tightening

(ˈtaɪtənɪŋ)

1. (of a part of the body) tensing or stiffening

2. the act of making a rule, policy, or system stricter or more efficient

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

tightening - the act of making something tighter; "the tightening of economic controls"

take-up - the action of taking up as by tightening or absorption or reeling in

modification, adjustment, alteration - the act of making something different (as e.g. the size of a garment)

laxation, loosening - the act of making something less tight

Translations

stringente

tightening

[ˈtaɪtnɪŋ] N [of rope] → tensamiento m; [of controls, security] → refuerzo m; [of skin] → tirantez f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

tightening

[ˈtaɪt^ənɪŋ] n

(= constriction) [muscle] → contraction f; [throat] → serrement m

(= making stricter) [rules, control] → renforcement m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

To this day I cannot utter or even write that name without a strange tightening of the breast and the gasp of mingled delight and dread of one's first passionate experience.

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Those on the hind feet he secured not only by tightening the draw strings but also rigged garters that fastened tightly around the legs above the hocks.

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And again, struggling frantically as the tightening collar shut off his wind, Ben Bolt was slowly lifted into the air.

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This was as exasperating as the real thing, for each time Daylight was fooled into tightening his leg grip and into a general muscular tensing of all his body.

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I should have no qualms about tightening the rope round the neck of some human monster, or sticking a neat dagger or bullet into a dangerous, treacherous foe, but to kill a dream is a sickening business.

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It was some time before they started for their walk; he kept an arm about her, and their sides were close together as they walked; the sun, the birds, the west wind running among the trees, a pressure, a look, the grasp tightening round a single finger, these things stood them in lieu of thought and filled their hearts with joy.

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The tightening noose was stopping the circulation of the blood in his legs--he was beginning to suffer.

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I turned on the instant, with my fingers tightening round the handle of my stick.

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I looked up and saw, far off in the shade of a tree, half a dozen armed knights and their squires; and straightway there was bustle among them and tightening of saddle-girths for the mount.

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"I," said Short-Rations, "I know all the fashions Of tightening a belt!"

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"There's something about him-- don't think me fanciful, but it gives me a nasty little sensation, a tightening of my muscles, when he comes near me.

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However, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered that the tightening of chest muscles during an asthma attack can trigger long-term changes in airways that constrict the passages.

Asthma pressure may shrink airways