How to Use tighten up in a Sentence

tighten up

phrasal verb

• One more slow start and the Heat might tighten up beyond repair.
  — Tara Sullivan, BostonGlobe.com, 26 May 2023
• The Lynx tightened up its defense to slow down the Mercury’s ball movement and the team only made two on 11 attempts in the second half.
  — Jenna Ortiz, The Arizona Republic, 26 May 2023
• But the message from Dutcher during a timeout was, ahem, to tighten up the defense.
  — Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Jan. 2024
• When Thorne first joined forces with Hewlett, the focus was on tightening up some of his mechanics.
  — Ainslie Lee | [e-mail], al, 21 Aug. 2023
• Then Oettinger tightened up, and the top line responded.
  — Kevin Sherrington, Dallas News, 12 May 2023
• The win was dominant across the board, but there were still areas the Crimson Tide could stand to tighten up before Texas comes to Tuscaloosa next week.
  — Matt Stahl | [e-mail], al, 3 Sep. 2023
• More commonly known as a charley horse, a nighttime leg cramp is when the muscles in a leg quickly tighten up.
  — Erica Lamberg, Fox News, 4 Feb. 2024
• The team has spent the past three weeks working out the kinks, tightening up holes on the defensive side, and bolstering its roster.
  — Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024
• Another Reddit poster suggests there may be a cat and mouse game behind the scenes as Google tightens up.
  — Zak Doffman, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024
• Can’t give up both The Suns have tried to tighten up giving up points in the paint with ball containment, gap control and creating a tighter shell on that end.
  — Duane Rankin, The Arizona Republic, 8 Jan. 2024
• With the exception of my tensor fasciae latae (TFL) muscle tightening up and the nagging cold, the rest of my body felt okay.
  — Michael Clinton, Men's Health, 14 June 2023
• His forearm tightened up while warming up before the fourth inning.
  — Anthony Gharib, USA TODAY, 8 Aug. 2023
• As the game wore on, both defense and midfield units tightened up and several players on each side battled cramping.
  — Jacob Steinberg, Baltimore Sun, 12 Sep. 2023
• And Shanahan’s propensity to tighten up in big moments — to become even more conservative when the game is one the line — can’t be ignored.
  — Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 26 Jan. 2024
• Instead, prepare to tighten up your remote or hybrid work policies because the practice is here to stay.
  — Byamber Burton, Fortune, 6 July 2023
• Keep your glutes engaged, and tighten up your core by thinking about squeezing your belly button back towards your spine.
  — Cori Ritchey, Men's Health, 31 Aug. 2023
• Texas scored two runs in the first to tie the game on a Adolis Garcia home run — his first of three on Saturday night — then plated five runs in the second, four in the third and two in the fifth to give Heaney plenty of room to tighten up.
  — Shawn McFarland, Dallas News, 23 Apr. 2023
• Things feel a bit sweaty and effortful, especially in the early going — not the finest quality in a farce, though the cast may well settle into the show and tighten up its rhythms.
  — Trey Graham, Washington Post, 13 Feb. 2024
• The defense that's been devastated by injuries at linebacker and safety has forced six turnovers over the same span, tightening up when there was no other choice.
  — Will Graves, USA TODAY, 8 Jan. 2024
• This positioning can tighten up your quads, hip flexors, neck, and shoulders.
  — Jenny McCoy, SELF, 11 July 2023
• That may be giving employers more leverage to tighten up their policies around remote work.
  — Mike Rogoway | [e-mail], oregonlive, 26 Jan. 2023
• The letter, in essence, is seeking to tighten up and expedite the first version of an accountability system.
  — Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2024
• Enforcing the law at the border, and tightening up our asylum procedures, is the right thing to do for our cities and the right thing to do for potential immigrants and asylum seekers now.
  — The Editors, National Review, 14 Aug. 2023
• The freedom evaporated in the second as Arizona started getting the ball to Ballo and tightening up on defense.
  — John Marshall, USA TODAY, 5 Feb. 2024
• On the other end of that data, there must be a person who can act upon findings to tighten up security protocols.
  — Melissa Russell, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
• So employment sort of tightened up, and that meant employers had to offer slightly higher salaries to both recruit and retain their employees.
  — Jasmine Browley, Essence, 27 July 2023
• Are you focused on tightening up, on more focused execution here?
  — Nilay Patel, The Verge, 12 May 2023
• Eager to provide guidance, Powell does sense a need to tighten up UAP terminology.
  — Leonard David, Scientific American, 9 June 2023
• In addition to the existing models' Smooth and Swift drive modes, there's a Sapphire mode that feeds in more of the available 1234 horses, and a Track mode that relaxes the traction management and tightens up steering and suspension.
  — Elana Scherr, Car and Driver, 8 Aug. 2023
• In three chances against Angels starter Tyler Anderson, the Giants’ center fielder lined a single, drew a walk and ripped a double before being lifted for a pinch-runner in his first game back since his left hamstring tightened up on him.
  — Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 20 Mar. 2024

Last Updated: 27 Jun 2024