tauter

Adjective

taut (comparative tauter, superlative tautest)

1. Of a body, muscle, etc., not flabby; firm, toned.
   • I watched him from the side as he strode along. His walk was quite different; his face too looked tauter.2014, Erich Maria Remarque, translated by Michael Hofmann, The Promised Land: Translated from the German, London: Vintage Books, →ISBN, page 285
2. Of a person, having a lean, strong body.
3. Of music, writing, etc., containing only relevant parts; brief and controlled.
   • If he curbs his swing a little and gets something crisper and tauter in his methods he may yet be very good.1921 March 19, Bernard Darwin, “Golf on the Forest”, in Peter Anderson Graham, editor, Country Life, volume XLIX, number 1263, London: George Newnes […], →OCLC, page 321, column 2

   Synonyms:

   concise, crisp, terse, tight, brief, laconic, lapidary, short-winded, succinct, to the point

   Antonyms:

   circumlocutory, diffuse, periphrastic, palaverous, pleonastic, prolix, rigmarole, sesquipedalian, verbose, wordy

4. (figuratively) Under tension, like a stretched bowstring, rope, or sail; tight.
   • The pressure pad which holds the film taut as it passes the reproducing light beam must apply just the right amount of pressure.1929, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Fundamentals of Sound Recording, page 192

   Synonyms:

   nonslack, stretched, tense, tensioned

   Antonyms:

   untaut, free, loose, unfastened, unsecured, unstapled

5. (figuratively) Experiencing anxiety or stress.
   • His outward appearance was calm, but inside he was very taut.1989, Faye Kellerman, The Quality of Mercy, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, →ISBN

   Synonyms:

   nonrelaxed, strained, tense, unrelaxed

6. (figuratively) Of a sailor, ship, etc., neat and well-disciplined.
   • [O]ur friend was a hearty toper in the days of his Whiggery, but no sooner turned one of the tautest of Tories, than he took to the tea-pot. It seems a thing against nature.1832 September, John Wilson, W[illia]m Maginn, J[ohn] G[ibson] Lockhart, James Hogg [et al.], Noctes Ambrosianæ […], volume V, number LXII, New York, N.Y.: Redfield […], published 1854, →OCLC, page 76

See all 9 meanings of taut