tighten
/ˈtaɪ.tən/
tighten verb: to make tighter.
Verb
tighten (third-person singular simple present tightens, present participle tightening, simple past and past participle tightened)
- To make tighter.
- Please tighten that screw a quarter-turn.
- Just where I please, with tighten;d rein / I'll urge thee round the dusty plain.1760, Francis Fawkes, Works of Anacreon, Sappho, Bion, Moschus, and Musæus translated into English by a gentleman of Cambridge
- To become tighter.
- That joint is tightening as the wood dries.
- To make money harder to borrow or obtain.
- If the government doesn't tighten the money supply, inflation is certain to be harsh.
- To raise short-term interest rates.
- The Fed is expected to tighten by a quarter-point.
tighten meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
tighten in Hindi
- to tighten
- कसना kasnā
- to tighten, clench, draw
- तानना tānnā
tighten in Tamil
- இறுக்கு
tighten in Marathi
- to make tighter
- घट्ट करणे ghaṭṭa karṇe
- to become tighter
- घट्ट होणे ghaṭṭa hoṇe
tighten in Urdu
- جکڑنا, کسنا
More languagesFewer languages
- tighten in Telugu
- బిగించడానికి, బిగించుటకు, బిగించటానికి
- tighten in Malayalam
- മുറുക്കുക muṟukkuka, ഇറുക്കുക iṟukkuka
- tighten in Kannada
- ಬಿಗಿ, ಬಿಗಿಮಾಡು, ಭದ್ರಗೊಳಿಸು, ಬಿಗಿಯಾಗು
- tighten in Punjabi
- ਕੱਸਣਾ kassaṇā
- tighten in Odia
- ଚିପିବା cipibā
- tighten in Assamese
- কচা kosa
- tighten in Arabic
- شَدَّ šadda, ضَيَّقَ ḍayyaqa, حَبَكَ ḥabaka
Examples of tighten in a sentence
- Don't tighten that bolt any more or you'll strip the thread.
- I have tightened the loose bolt that was the culprit; it should work now.
- See if that nut has too much looseness and tighten it if it does.
Synonyms of tighten
Antonyms
Forms of tighten
| third-person singular present | tightens |
|---|---|
| present participle | tightening |
| past participle | tightened |
| past | tightened |
Origin of tighten
Synchronically equivalent to tight + -en, but actually derived from Middle English tighten, from Old English tyhtan, thus originally unrelated to tight (Old English *þiht).
Words formed from tighten
Phrases with tighten
Words that rhyme with tighten
Questions about tighten
- What does tighten mean?
- Tighten means to make tighter.
- What is tighten in Hindi?
- Tighten in Hindi is कसना (kasnā), तानना (tānnā). See Tighten meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is tighten?
- Tighten is a verb.
- How do you pronounce tighten?
- Tighten is pronounced /ˈtaɪ.tən/.
- What is the past tense of tighten?
- The past tense of tighten is tightened.
Words near tighten in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tighten (page history and authors); कसना (Hindi) (page history and authors); tighten (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tighten (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tighten (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ഇറുക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); tighten (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕੱਸਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ଚିପିବା (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tighten.wav.
Cite this entry: “tighten.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tighten. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.