tighten up

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

If the Mammoth can stop getting caught puck-watching and tighten up a little more defensively, this could go seven games. —Shayna Goldman, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2026

The legislation is the latest effort to tighten up how Congress polices itself. —Anna Liss-Roy The Washington Post, Arkansas Online, 27 Apr. 2026

The escalating prices, and potential for fuel shortages next month, forced Vietnam’s airlines to tighten up capacity in April. —Glenn Taylor, Footwear News, 24 Apr. 2026

New York joins California in suing over Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's efforts to tighten up the rules for which immigrants can qualify to get a commercial driver's license and make sure the states are properly enforcing the existing rules. —ABC News, 24 Apr. 2026

Rhymes for tighten up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup