How to Use belt-tightening in a Sentence

belt-tightening

noun
  • Kane County has been on a belt-tightening budget for many years.
    Courier-News, Chicago Tribune, 21 Feb. 2025
  • Here’s a quick summary of the belt-tightening taking place at each of these schools.
    Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026
  • The platform has vowed to do some belt-tightening and operate more efficiently this year.
    Amrita Khalid, The Verge, 25 Apr. 2023
  • But though the industry is in a belt-tightening phase, no one is predicting the demise of the art form altogether.
    Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2024
  • But there are also signs that Cannes, synonymous with glamour and lavish parties, may be in belt-tightening mode.
    Ramin Setoodeh, Variety, 13 May 2025
  • But Google is also in belt-tightening mode, clamping down on projects companywide that aren’t paying off.
    WSJ, 4 Oct. 2023
  • The idea of shooting a tester episode before committing to paying for an entire season is back in vogue during these belt-tightening times.
    Joe Otterson, Variety, 22 Apr. 2026
  • Google has been on a belt-tightening, price-raising mission for about a year now, and part of that has involved across-the-board subscription price increases.
    Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 5 Sep. 2023
  • This marks a shift away from the belt-tightening policies that have been in place since 2010 and toward economic stimulus.
    Yun Sun, Foreign Affairs, 6 Feb. 2025
  • With studios in belt-tightening mode as streaming services struggle for profitability, the climate isn’t likely to change.
    Ryan Gajewski, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Nov. 2023
  • There will be belt-tightening, with even more scrutiny around customer experience investments.
    Jon Picoult, Forbes.com, 4 Apr. 2025
  • The budget gap needed unexpected belt-tightening and spending only on the essentials.
    Andy Sheehan, CBS News, 15 Apr. 2026
  • But left-wing and far-right lawmakers were opposed to much of the belt-tightening drive and voted a no confidence measure against Barnier's government, bringing it down.
    Raechel Thankam Job, Reuters, 13 Dec. 2024
  • The cutback on temporary workers indicates that companies will continue their belt-tightening ways.
    Jack Kelly, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2023
  • This time around, the space appears to have been hit with a general belt-tightening following a rosier stretch coming out of the pandemic, not to mention that the genre has been light on breakout hits in recent years.
    Ryan Gajewski, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Aug. 2023
  • The new government is expected to introduce an era of financial belt-tightening and stricter immigration policies.
    Johanna Lemola, New York Times, 16 June 2023
  • There are signs of belt-tightening abound on Chinese city streets, where diners pack restaurants offering 40 cent breakfasts, and stores hold flash sales and wage price wars with competitors.
    Anthony Kuhn, NPR, 9 May 2025
  • Opponents argue the policy is shrinking the city’s restaurant workforce by forcing belt-tightening and putting establishments out of business.
    Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 15 Apr. 2026
  • But the looming threat of a debt crisis and the absence of viable new financing alternatives have encouraged some countries to take preventive belt-tightening measures.
    Shantayanan Devarajan, Foreign Affairs, 4 Aug. 2022
  • Owing in part to the company’s belt-tightening efforts, Thurston sold Outside’s Santa Fe offices.
    Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2025
  • Because Waymo’s founding vision is based deeply on people-carrying, in a time of belt-tightening Waymo must deliver on robotaxi.
    Richard Bishop, Forbes, 20 Apr. 2023
  • Apple, the world’s most valuable company, began a belt-tightening effort last July, when galloping inflation and recession fears spurred it to take a more cautious stance.
    Mark Gurman, Fortune, 14 Mar. 2023
  • Budget tightening After years of surplus revenues, Tennessee is likely due for some belt-tightening amid a string of underperforming months.
    Melissa Brown, The Tennessean, 8 Jan. 2024
  • Last month, Columbia’s medical school implemented a hiring freeze and other belt-tightening measures in anticipation of the cuts.
    Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News, 4 Mar. 2025
  • While software companies generally don’t have a lot of direct tariff exposure, the concern for the group is that belt-tightening from their customers could dampen spending on software and lead to deals taking longer to complete.
    Natasha Abellard, CNBC, 21 Apr. 2025
  • Going into last year’s Sundance, there was concern that belt-tightening among the studios and the aftershocks of two Hollywood strikes would dampen the appetite for indie film purchases.
    Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2025
  • Gloria imposed a series of belt-tightening measures in November, weeks after voters rejected a sales-tax measure that would have raised $400 million a year in new revenue.
    Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Feb. 2025
  • School officials have pursued a string of belt-tightening measures, including eliminating more than 400 staff positions in July.
    Kate Armanini, Chicago Tribune, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Chatter in the market revolved around the reasons for the downturn – rising competition from streaming platforms, consumer belt-tightening and hesitance on the part of investors and studios – as well as possible solutions.
    Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2025
  • The Ravens had to make difficult belt-tightening decisions, most notably cutting veteran defensive end Calais Campbell to create $7 million in salary cap space.
    Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 27 Apr. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'belt-tightening.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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