tight.
Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open.
Meaning & usage
Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open.
a tight sponge; a tight knot
Pull your seatbelts tight before takeoff.
Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open. Unyielding or firm.
tight control on a situation
Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open. Under high tension; taut.
Make sure to pull the rope tight.
Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open. Scarce, hard to come by.
I grew up in a poor neighborhood; money was very tight, but we made do.
Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open. Intimate, close, close-knit, intimately friendly.
We've grown tighter over the years.
Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open. Miserly or frugal.
He's a bit tight with his money.
Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open. Short of money.
Narrow, such that it is difficult for something or someone to pass through it.
The passageway was so tight we could barely get through.
They flew in a tight formation.
Narrow, such that it is difficult for something or someone to pass through it. Fitting close, or too close, to the body.
tight clothing; a tight coat; My socks are too tight.
Narrow, such that it is difficult for something or someone to pass through it. Of a turn, sharp, so that the timeframe for making it is narrow and following it is difficult.
The mountain pass was made dangerous by its many tight corners.
Narrow, such that it is difficult for something or someone to pass through it. Lacking holes; difficult to penetrate; waterproof.
Narrow, such that it is difficult for something or someone to pass through it. Close, very similar in a value such as score or time.
Well-rehearsed and accurate in execution.
Their marching band is extremely tight.
Well-rehearsed and accurate in execution. Not conceding many goals.
Intoxicated; drunk.
We went drinking and got tight.
Extraordinarily great or special.
That is one tight bicycle!
Mean; unfair; unkind.
Limited or restricted.
We had a very tight schedule.
Not ragged; whole; neat; tidy.
Handy; adroit; brisk.
Of a player, who plays very few hands.
Using a strategy which involves playing very few hands.
With understeer, primarily used to describe NASCAR stock cars.
Angry or irritated.
Of a person, having a tight vagina or anus.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English tight, tyght, tyȝt, tiht, variants of thight, thiht, from Old English *þiht, *þīht (attested in meteþiht), from Proto-West Germanic *þį̄ht(ī), from Proto-Germanic *þinhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *tenkt- (“dense, thick, tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, pull”). Cognate with Scots ticht, West Frisian ticht, Danish tæt, Icelandic þéttur (“dense”), Norwegian tett, Swedish tät, Dutch dicht (“dense”), German dicht (“dense”). The current form with t- /t/ rather than etymologically-expected th- /θ/ arose in Middle English under the influence of the etymologically-unrelated verbs tighten and tight, which come from a different Proto-Indo-European root (starting with *d- and thus regularly having t-).
Firmly, so as not to come loose easily.
Hold on tight to the rope.
Soundly.
Good night, sleep tight.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English tight, tyght, tyȝt, tiht, variants of thight, thiht, from Old English *þiht, *þīht (attested in meteþiht), from Proto-West Germanic *þį̄ht(ī), from Proto-Germanic *þinhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *tenkt- (“dense, thick, tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, pull”). Cognate with Scots ticht, West Frisian ticht, Danish tæt, Icelandic þéttur (“dense”), Norwegian tett, Swedish tät, Dutch dicht (“dense”), German dicht (“dense”). The current form with t- /t/ rather than etymologically-expected th- /θ/ arose in Middle English under the influence of the etymologically-unrelated verbs tighten and tight, which come from a different Proto-Indo-European root (starting with *d- and thus regularly having t-).
To make tight; tighten.
To make water-tight.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English tighten, thyhten (“to make tight”); see tighten.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.