- very tense, nervous, anxious, etc.
- overly conventional or strict
adjective
The definition of uptight is someone who is very nervous, overly-controlled or who can't relax.
A person at a party who is constantly looking around for signs of trouble, worrying about everything instead of enjoying himself, is an example of someone who would be described as uptight.
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uptight
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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uptight
adjective
Slang- Tense; nervous: was uptight about turning 50.
- Rigidly conventional, as in manners, opinions, and tastes: “[She] struck some as uptight or even prissy, a person so private she could be hard to read” ( Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson )
Related Forms:
- up′tight′ness
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"Uptight." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Uptight.
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Uptight. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Uptight
Adjective
(comparative more uptight, superlative most uptight)
- (colloquial) Excessively concerned with rules and order.
- Don't be so uptight! You won't go to jail for crossing the street against the light.
- (colloquial) Sexually repressed.
- He came from a very uptight religious background, but you wouldn't know that now!
- (colloquial) Unfriendly and rude.
Noun
(plural uptights)
- (colloquial) An uptight person.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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MLA Style
"Uptight." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Uptight.
APA Style
Uptight. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Uptight
Sentence Examples
- By wearing a shirt that seeks to amuse, the wearer lets others know that he's not uptight or unapproachable.
- Along with an all-star cast that consisted of Diane Keaton, Claire Danes, Dermot Mulrooney and Luke Wilson, Sarah Jessica Parker played the role of uptight business woman Meredith Morton in the film The Family Stone.
- If your teen seems uptight or stressed, encourage him to talk about the problems he or she may be facing.
- Chances are it's not an individual stressor making you feel uptight, it's the accumulation of them.
- French sheer lingerie, if worn under her clothes, can help even the most uptight woman feel a little more in touch with her basic, sensual side.
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