BELT-TIGHTENING Synonyms: 37 Similar and Opposite Words

belt-tightening

noun

Definition of belt-tightening

as in austerity

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of belt-tightening 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 The budget gap needed unexpected belt-tightening and spending only on the essentials. — Andy Sheehan, CBS News, 15 Apr. 2026 The package extended the belt-tightening path South Africa has been on since 2018, when President Cyril Ramaphosa took over a fiscally strained by ballooning budget shortfalls, rising budget shortfalls and a cascade of credit rating cuts. — Tiisetso Motsoeneng, semafor.com, 9 Mar. 2026 Some industries are correcting after the hiring boom of the pandemic, but this comes as AI adoption, softening consumer and corporate spending, and rising costs drive belt-tightening and hiring freezes. — Hugh Cameron, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for belt-tightening

Recent Examples of Synonyms for belt-tightening

Noun

Ursula von Rydingsvard, a sculptor who responded to the austerity of Minimalism with monumental cedar sculptures that had a distinctly human touch, died in New York on Tuesday following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

— Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 27 Oct. 2026
Yet the far-right candidate rejects austerity and supports allowing some workers to retire at 60.

— Editorial Board, Washington Post, 25 Oct. 2026

Definition of austerity

Noun

After weeks of sleep deprivation, Kong in August fell asleep in her parked car with the A/C running before tennis practice.

— Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2026
Both were transferred to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth and spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit, where they were diagnosed with brain injuries due to oxygen deprivation.

— Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of deprivation

Noun

The Supportive Comfort Wireless Shaping Bra gives you wire-free lift with no pinching or poking.

— ABC News, ABC News, 4 Sep. 2026
Bali Double-Support Wireless Bra The bra’s signature M-frame creates a sturdy structure that supports your chest sans underwire — thereby avoiding any digging, pinching, or poking throughout the day.

— Clara McMahon, PEOPLE, 22 Aug. 2026

Definition of pinching

Noun

After a few parched years Arizona was bailed out by the federal government, which built a reservoir so the people of the Salt River Valley would never again experience privation.

— Gaby Del Valle, The Verge, 29 Oct. 2026
The catastrophe was a reminder of not only the destructiveness of Israeli bombing, but also the depth of the continuing privation in Gaza today.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 19 Sep. 2026

Definition of privation

Noun

While some issues are clearly partisan — including the country’s current economic misery, the long-running war in Iran and the attacks on the Affordable Care Act — others are grounded in basic decency.

— Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 Nov. 2026
But the stand-alone fragment, in the seeming spirit of Franz Kafka’s surreal and unsettling fiction, links success to misery, and happiness to death.

— Robert S. Levine, The Conversation, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of misery

Noun

Poetry gets left behind by the exigency of character development or, in the movie’s self-defeating logic, because the art form doesn’t really matter and is only a lame excuse for people who won’t take responsibility and grow up.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026
Potential finalists will be notified via email and will be required to complete and return an Affidavit of Eligibility, License of Work and Release of Liability/Publicity within three (3) days of date of notification, or a shorter time if required by exigencies, or a runner-up may be selected.

— Kelli Bender, PEOPLE, 25 June 2026

Definition of exigency

Noun

Rescue operations were complicated, with police firing tear gas at people who had begun looting neighboring shops, as officers sought to clear the area and provide access to emergency response teams.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026
Around 200 firefighters and emergency personnel ⁠in the area around Berchtesgaden in the southern region of Bavaria were battling the flames after the building, known as the Kehlsteinhaus, caught fire on Friday, police said.

— Reuters, NBC news, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of emergency

Browse Nearby Words

belts up

belt-tightening

belt-tightenings

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Style

“Belt-tightening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/belt-tightening. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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Synonyms of belt-tightening

noun

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