How to Use tighten the screws in a Sentence

tighten the screws

idiom
  • Thread the screws by hand to ensure the two pieces are lining up, then tighten the screws.
    Kamron Sanders, Better Homes & Gardens, 22 Aug. 2022
  • If the Oakland City Council dweebs threaten to put the project up for a public vote, tighten the screws.
    Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 30 Mar. 2022
  • The Austrian government’s next move may well be to tighten the screws.
    Time, 15 Nov. 2021
  • The Dolphins defense struggled against the run and on third downs earlier this year, but began to tighten the screws a month ago.
    Omar Kelly, sun-sentinel.com, 14 Nov. 2021
  • But the images of civilians dead in the street in Bucha led Western countries to levy more sanctions and tighten the screws on Moscow even further.
    David Goldman, CNN, 6 Apr. 2022
  • Teams will eventually tighten the screws, playing close to the line of scrimmage to force Tagovailoa to read defenses and beat them with his arm.
    Omar Kelly, sun-sentinel.com, 25 Oct. 2020
  • In fact, the writer, who co-wrote the series with Marissa Lestrade, wanted to take advantage of an opportunity to deepen his characters and tighten the screws of the plot.
    Emily Zemler, Los Angeles Times, 10 Feb. 2022
  • In an attempt to further tighten the screws on Russia, the EU is preparing its eleventh sanctions proposal, according to Bloomberg.
    Aurora Almendral, Quartz, 3 May 2023
  • With the Fed determined to bring down inflation, the latest CPI release plays a major role in just how much more the central bank will want to tighten the screws on businesses and individuals looking to borrow money.
    Telis Demos, WSJ, 14 June 2023
  • The government nevertheless continued to tighten the screws.
    Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 7 Mar. 2022
  • In response, Nigeria’s central bank has published new guidelines this week to tighten the screws around the system behind the unique 11-digital bank verification numbers (BVNs) that identify bank customers.
    Alexander Onukwue, Quartz, 14 Oct. 2021
  • Skeptics say the decision, taken by Russia, which sits at one end of the massive pipeline, is a deliberate decision designed to tighten the screws on Europe for its support of Ukraine as the country repels a Russian invasion.
    WIRED, 28 Aug. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tighten the screws.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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