tauten
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But as the summer wears on and the management begins withholding pay, the structure tightens, the conflicts tauten and Ms. Irwin’s larger concerns come into sharper focus.
From New York Times ● Sep. 4, 2014
The lips, extravagantly full, can pout or preen or tauten resolutely or open in an elfin smile.
From Time Magazine Archive
I used to curl up my tongue in front of the mirror and tauten my frenum into a white line, itself as thin as a razor blade.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
Every nerve in his body seemed to tauten: He pulled out his wand, moved into the shadows beside the decapitated elf heads, and waited.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
The silence seemed to tauten and strain as Dumbledore spoke.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
The “Yellowjackets” cast tautens the narrative slack with muscular performances and some of the actors’ native likability.
From Salon ● Feb. 14, 2025
His whole being tautens; the chin is implacable; justice is served.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 9, 2016
Our attention flicks from executioner to client and back again – Kevin Dyer's direction gently tautens the tension.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 10, 2013
As the lot approaches, one's heartbeat quickens, the mouth grows dry, the body tautens.
From Newsweek ● Mar. 19, 2010
The thick rope tautens as the firemen lay their weight to it.
From Back Home by Wood, Eugene
The first face-lifts essentially lifted, tautened and re-draped facial skin.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 30, 2022
But this season moves with an icier malevolence than seasons past, and its focus has narrowed and tautened.
From Salon ● May 5, 2019
“The Guilty” is smartly constructed and tautened with regular twists, but, if it were merely clever, it wouldn’t test your nerves as it does.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 19, 2018
It would be helpful if Mr. Suh had tidied up his material and tautened his second act, which lacks some of the furious zaniness of the first and ends at least three times.
From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2015
Gripe, gripe, the enormous thigh muscles tautened in two convulsions.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
You feel a certain tautening of wit, plus a keen and very Coen-like awareness that clichés, which abound in the genre of the spy drama, are there to be flirted with.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 26, 2015
Holbein has simply painted a dead body, showing its greenish skin and tautening sinews as decay sets in.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 19, 2014
To the Arabs, it brought a tautening of determination as well as a more sober assessing of their chances for victory.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was about then that sophisticated New Yorkers knew that the Mad Bomber was not just whistling through his teeth; the sensation-loving papers cheerfully nursed the tautening nerves.
From Time Magazine Archive
His nerves had ceased their jangling under the tautening of necessity.
From Within the Law by Veiller, Bayard
