tight-assed

English

Alternative forms

• tight-arsed (UK)

Adjective

tight-assed (comparative more tight-assed, superlative most tight-assed)

1. (informal, derogatory) Rigidly maintaining self-control; restricting oneself to generally accepted rules and behaviours.

   Synonyms: conservative, conventional, inhibited, repressed, straight-laced, stuffy, uptight

   Antonyms: easy-going, laid-back, relaxed

   • 1982, Patricia Burstein, chapter 12, in Family Holiday,‎^[1], New York: William Morrow, page 182:

     Assemblyperson Baker, as she probably liked to be addressed, had all the lyricism and sensuality of Betty Crocker. She was so tight-assed that she even wore stockings in the tropics.

   • 1991, Douglas Coupland, Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC, page 14:

     This noncritical atmosphere works for us because the three of us are so tight assed about revealing our emotions.

   • 2011, Robert Harris, chapter 4, in The Fear Index‎^[2], London: Hutchinson, pages 63–64:

     A group of pedestrians waited on the corner opposite for the lights to change even though there was no traffic coming in either direction. After watching them for a while Hoffmann muttered savagely, ‘The goddam tight-assed Swiss...’

2. (informal, derogatory) Excessively concerned with unimportant details; obsessively precise.

   Synonyms: anal, fastidious, fussy, finicky, hair-splitting, nitpicky, punctilious

   • 1964, Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man, London: Minerva, published 1991, page 62:

     […] Gottlieb obviously wishes, above all else in life, that he could turn himself into that miserable don and learn to write his spiteful-playful tight-assed vinegar prose.

   • 1998, Debra Di Blasi, “Prayers of an Accidental Nature”, in Prayers of an Accidental Nature: Stories‎^[3], Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, page 178:

     It was a typical old brownstone, built in the fifties and since then maintained with tight-assed economy—a little paint every year, a new lock on the door, perhaps a new piece of plumbing here and there as the old rusted out.

3. (informal, derogatory) Reluctant to spend money.

   Synonyms: miserly, stingy, tight-fisted

   • 1971, James Schevill, Lovecraft’s Follies‎^[4], Chicago: Swallow Press, Act I, Scene 3, p. 45:

     We have learned how—what do you call it?—tight-assed the white man is with his money.

   • 1991, Melvin Dixon, Vanishing Rooms,‎^[5], New York: Dutton, page 28:

     Cuddles is the one in the money. Ain’t tight-assed about it either, which is why we hang together.

4. (informal) Having firm or clenched buttocks.
   • 1994, Janet Evanovich, chapter 1, in One for the Money‎^[6], New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, page 3:

     He had an eagle tattooed on his chest, a tight-assed, narrow-hipped swagger, and a reputation for having fast hands and clever fingers.

   • 2015, Kimberli A. Bindschatel, Operation Tropical Affair, Traverse City, MI: Turning Leaf, Chapter 8, p. 78,^[7]

     We could pop down to the Caymans. Drink some margaritas, watch those tight-assed college boys play beach volleyball.

5. (informal, of an article of clothing) Fitting tightly in the area covering the buttocks.
   • 1967, Wright Morris, In Orbit, Chapter 6, in Two for the Road, Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1994, p. 264,^[8]

     There is no room in his tight-assed pants for his dangling hands.

   • 1994, George Pelecanos, chapter 7, in Shoedog,‎^[9], New York: St. Martin’s Press, page 56:

     […] the women wore hot pants and halter tops and tight-assed skirts.

   • 2012, Robert Littell, chapter 8, in Young Philby,‎^[10], New York: Thomas Dunne Books, page 164:

     The waiters were all beautiful Portuguese Nancy boys dressed in tight French sailor suits—striped shirts, tight-assed bell bottoms, a blue cap with a red pompadour—and reeking of delectably cheap perfume.

Derived terms

• tightass

Adverb

tight-assed (not comparable)

1. (informal, derogatory) In an uptight or fastidious way.
   • 1975, Theodore V. Olsen, chapter 3, in Track the Man Down‎^[11], Garden City, NY: Doubleday, page 35:

     When he’d stopped at a saloon for a glass of skullbuster, the bar-keep had been so tight-assed snotty about serving him that he’d taken the one drink in a gulp and then cleared out.

   • 1978, Norma Fox Mazer, Harry Mazer, chapter 1, in The Solid Gold Kid,‎^[12], New York: Dell, page 7:

     they take themselves too tight-assed serious here

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “tight-arsed adj.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang