From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishuptightup‧tight /ˈʌptaɪt, ʌpˈtaɪt/ adjective informal 1 BAD-TEMPEREDbehaving in an angry way because you are feeling nervous and worrieduptight about You have to learn to laugh instead of getting uptight about things.2 having strict traditional attitudes and seeming unable to relax
Examples from the Corpus
uptight• He tries to be kind, but he always seems a little uptight.• I wish you would stop being so uptight.• Lately people seem to be so uptight.• I just try not to get too uptight about anything.• My parents have always been uptight about me dating boys.• Movie companies are understandably uptight about relinquishing control over how products are portrayed by film makers.• Being so uptight all the while can't be good for you.• The conditions made everybody uptight, and it was very difficult to have a normal working atmosphere.• Most of the time he was really uptight, and to be honest, looking back, we weren't truly professional.• Ike and Tina proved they could even tear the roof off of prestigious and uptight Carnegie Hall.• When Ian becomes uptight it can affect his game.• She's one of those narrow-minded, uptight people who think that for a work of art to be great it can't be pleasurable.• You were an uptight person all my life. 