Library / English Dictionary

TIGHTENING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of making something tighter

Example:

the tightening of economic controls

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("tightening" is a kind of...):

adjustment; alteration; modification (the act of making something different (as e.g. the size of a garment))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tightening"):

take-up (the action of taking up as by tightening or absorption or reeling in)

Antonym:

loosening (the act of making something less tight)

Derivation:

tighten (make tight or tighter)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

-ing form of the verb tighten

Credits

 Context examples: 

He tested how much of the garden was visible; he examined the floor, the ceiling, and the fireplace; but never once did I see that sudden brightening of his eyes and tightening of his lips which would have told me that he saw some gleam of light in this utter darkness.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Unlike Gatsby and Tom Buchanan I had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs and so I drew up the girl beside me, tightening my arms.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)