Belt-tightening
adj, noun, verb, slang ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A reduction in expenditure, often as a result of financial restrictions. informal
"By Mr. de Blasio’s third year in office, the city was employing 287,002 full-time workers, more than at any other point in its modern history, and the number continued to rise until the pandemic. The head count fell to about 313,000 as of September because of belt tightening but is expected to grow in the coming year."
- 1 present participle and gerund of belt-tighten form-of, gerund, participle, present
- 1 Causing or involving a reduction in expenditure. informal
"The message coming out of 10 and 11 Downing Street is that a belt-tightening autumn statement will include both tax increases and public spending cuts. Ahead of Jeremy Hunt’s announcement on 17 November , the pitch is being carefully rolled."
Example
More examples"By Mr. de Blasio’s third year in office, the city was employing 287,002 full-time workers, more than at any other point in its modern history, and the number continued to rise until the pandemic. The head count fell to about 313,000 as of September because of belt tightening but is expected to grow in the coming year."
Etymology
From tighten one's belt.
More for "belt-tightening"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.