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tightness

   Also found in: Financial, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.03 sec.
tight  (tt)
adj. tight·er, tight·est
1. Fixed or fastened firmly in place: a tight lid; tight screws; a tight knot.
2. Stretched or drawn out fully: a tight wire; a tight drumhead.
3. Of such close construction as to be impermeable: cloth tight enough to hold water; warm in our tight little cabin.
4.
a. Leaving little empty space through compression; compact: a tight suitcase; a tight weave.
b. Affording little spare time; full: a tight schedule.
5. Closely reasoned or concise: a tight argument; a tight style of writing.
6. Fitting close or too close to the skin; snug: a tight collar; a fit that was much too tight.
7. Slang Personally close; intimate: "me and the D.A., who happen to be very tight with one another" Tom Wolfe.
8. Experiencing a feeling of constriction: a tight feeling in the chest.
9. Reluctant to spend or give; stingy.
10.
a. Obtainable with difficulty or only at a high price: tight money.
b. Affected by scarcity: a tight market.
11. Difficult to deal with or get out of: a tight spot.
12. Barely profitable: a tight bargain.
13. Closely contested; close: a tight match.
14. Chiefly British Neat and trim in appearance or arrangement.
15. Marked by full control over elements or subordinates; firm: tight management; a tight orchestral performance.
16. Slang Intoxicated; drunk.
17. Baseball Inside.
adv. tight·er, tight·est
1. Firmly; securely.
2. Soundly: sleep tight.
3. Snugly or with constriction: My shoes are laced too tight.

[Middle English, dense, of Scandinavian origin.]

tightly adv.
tightness n.
Synonyms: tight, taut, tense1
These adjectives mean not slack or loose on account of being pulled or drawn out fully: a tight skirt; taut sails; tense piano strings.
Usage Note: Tight is used as an adverb following verbs that denote a process of closure or constriction, as squeeze, shut, close, tie, and hold. In this use it is subtly distinct from the adverb tightly. Tight denotes the state resulting from the process, whereas tightly denotes the manner of its application. As such, tight is more appropriate when the focus is on a state that endures for some time after the activity has ended. The sentence She closed up the house tight suggests preparation for an impending blizzard. By the same token, it is more natural to say The windows were frozen tight than The windows were frozen tightly, since in this case the tightness of the seal is not likely to be the result of the manner in which the windows were frozen. With a few verbs tight is used idiomatically as an intensive and is the only possible form: sleep tight; sit tight. Tight can be used only following the verb: The house was shut tight (not tight shut).
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.tightness - a state occasioned by scarcity of money and a shortage of credit
deficiency, lack, want - the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable; "there is a serious lack of insight into the problem"; "water is the critical deficiency in desert regions"; "for want of a nail the shoe was lost"
2.tightness - a tight feeling in some part of the body; "he felt a constriction in her chest"; "she felt an alarming tightness in her chest"; "emotion caused a constriction of his throat"
feeling - a physical sensation that you experience; "he had a queasy feeling"; "I had a strange feeling in my leg"; "he lost all feeling in his arm"
3.tightness - the spatial property of being crowded together
spatial arrangement, spacing - the property possessed by an array of things that have space between them
4.tightness - extreme stinginess
stinginess - a lack of generosity; a general unwillingness to part with money
littleness, pettiness, smallness - lack of generosity in trifling matters
miserliness - total lack of generosity with money
5.tightness - lack of movement or room for movement
immovability, immovableness - not capable of being moved or rearranged
looseness, play - movement or space for movement; "there was too much play in the steering wheel"
Translations

tightness [ˈtaɪtnɪs] n [of rope] → tirantez f [of clothes] → estrechez f [of budget] → lo ajustado

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She gave me an impression of extraordinary tightness.
The appearance of the infant, however, while in this state of compression, is whimsically hideous, and "its little black eyes," we are told, "being forced out by the tightness of the bandages, resemble those of a mouse choked in a trap.
My Lady's maid is a Frenchwoman of two and thirty, from somewhere in the southern country about Avignon and Marseilles, a large-eyed brown woman with black hair who would be handsome but for a certain feline mouth and general uncomfortable tightness of face, rendering the jaws too eager and the skull too prominent.
 
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