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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

uptight en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • ŭp-tīt'
  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ʌpˈtaɪt/

Meanings

  1. (colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order, always serious.
    • Don't be so uptight! You won't go to jail for crossing the street against the light.
  2. Emotionally repressed; nervous and tense.
  3. (colloquial) Sexually repressed.
    • He came from a very uptight religious background, but you wouldn't know that now!
  4. (colloquial) Unfriendly or rude.
    • Withnail: Just because the best tailoring you’ve ever seen is above your fucking appendix doesn’t mean anything. / Danny: Don’t get uptight with me, man. 1987, Bruce Robinson, Withnail and I:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
more uptight Degree=Cmp lexicographic
most uptight Degree=Sup lexicographic
uptighter Degree=Cmp lexicographic
uptightest Degree=Sup lexicographic

Deriveds

uptightness · uptightly

Translations (11)

de verklemmt ((colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order, always serious) · pl spięty ((colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order, always serious) · ru напряженный ((colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order, always serious) · ru чопорный ((colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order, always serious) · ru чинный ((colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order, always serious) · fi kireä ((colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order, always serious) · fi ahdasmielinen ((colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order, always serious) · mk на́пнат ((colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order, always serious) · nl geremd ((colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order, always serious) · fi niuhottava ((colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order, always serious) · fr coincé ((colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order, always serious)

uptight en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • ŭp-tīt'
  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ʌpˈtaɪt/

Meanings

  1. (colloquial) An uptight person.
    • […] bunch of uptights who can be divided into two antagonistic factions: either they are gay and suffer from an excess of the fraternity spirit, or despite reaching middle-age they are still to be found fondling runaway teenagers […] 1998, Stewart Home, Suspect Device: A Reader in Hard-edged Fiction (page 59)

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
uptights Number=Plur lexicographic

Relateds

petty bourgeois · anal-retentive · narrow-minded · stuffy