tautening

verb

present participle of tauten
as in tightening
to draw tight he tautened the rope and then tied it off

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tautening
  1. tightening
  2. tensing
Verb
  • The latest donation from the Citadel hedge fund founder comes as polls show the race between Donalds and Democratic candidate David Jolly tightening more than expected.
    — Luisa Yanez, Miami Herald, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Given a strong economy and persistent inflation, a pause does not mean the end of the tightening cycle, according to Gareth Leather, senior Asia economist at Capital Economics.
    — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of tightening
Verb
  • Ewing has recognized his shoulders tensing and his upper body going stiff.
    — Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 21 June 2026
  • Limited rib mobility interferes with the ability to breathe deeply, triggering your body’s stress response, which increases muscle tensing as a guarding mechanism.
    — Dana Santas, CNN Money, 15 Feb. 2026
Definition of tensing
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.

Browse Nearby Words

tautened
tautening
tautens
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Tautening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tautening. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of disparate

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All