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tight

adjective · adverb

Simple meaning

Firmly held together.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

tyt
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtaɪt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open.

  2. Unyielding or firm.

  3. Fitting close, or too close, to the body.

  4. Of a turn, sharp, so that the timeframe for making it is narrow and following it is difficult.

  5. Lacking holes; difficult to penetrate; waterproof.

  6. Close, very similar in a value such as score or time.

adverb

  1. Firmly or closely

  2. Firmly, so as not to come loose easily.

  3. Soundly.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open.

Used this way, tight is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use tight

  • “Make sure the lid is tight on the container so the food stays fresh.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

tight moneytight controltight rein

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • tightsnounPlural form

    Skintight knit hose covering the body from the waist to the feet worn by acrobats and dancers and as stockings by women and girls.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • tightlyadverbDerived adverb

    In a tight or constricted manner.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • tight moneynounCompound term

    The economic condition in which credit is difficult to secure and interest rates are high.

  • hold tightverbCompound term

    Hold firmly, usually with one's hands.

  • hug-me-tightnounCompound term

    A woman's fitted jacket.

  • sit tightverbCompound term

    Maintain the same position.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • tightenverbRelated term

    Make tight or tighter.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

adjective

Sense: firmly held together

compact

adverb

Sense: firmly or closely

close

Antonyms

Sense: firmly held together

loose

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.