tighten up
phrasal verb
tightened up; tightening up; tightens up
: to become more strict or effective or to make (something) more strict or effective
Security around the building has tightened up recently.
They tightened up security around the building.
Examples of tighten up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Everything started to tighten up.
—
Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 24 Sep. 2025
Normal and Sport mode tighten up the GTD’s responsiveness, without sacrificing comfort and compliance on rougher portions of asphalt.
—Michael Teo Van Runkle, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
As his rivals started to tighten up, Lutkenhaus seemed only to get stronger, his strides fluid and smooth.
—George Ramsay, CNN Money, 12 Sep. 2025
Defensively, Rhode Island soared in the second half—allowing just three points, forcing key turnovers, and tightening up on third‑down stops.
—Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tighten up
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Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 24 Sep. 2025
Normal and Sport mode tighten up the GTD’s responsiveness, without sacrificing comfort and compliance on rougher portions of asphalt.
—Michael Teo Van Runkle, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
As his rivals started to tighten up, Lutkenhaus seemed only to get stronger, his strides fluid and smooth.
—George Ramsay, CNN Money, 12 Sep. 2025
Defensively, Rhode Island soared in the second half—allowing just three points, forcing key turnovers, and tightening up on third‑down stops.
—Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tighten up
Cite this Entry
“Tighten up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tighten%20up. Accessed 30 Sep. 2025.
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