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tight-knit community

tight-knit community

3 3.5
A group of people who know and help each other
  • noun
  • /taɪt nɪt kəˈmjunɪti/
translation icon : comunidad unida
  • New Haven used to have a pretty tight-knit community of booksellers.
  • a very tight-knit community
  • a small tight-knit community
  • a really tight-knit community

There was no shops, there was no restaurants, there was no pubs and a very tight knit community.

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Examples

  • The funeral was well-attended; the island, even now, is a tight-knit community, and Evan was particularly well-loved.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • The sisters waved to neighbors passing by and waxed nostalgic about their tight-knit community, which was founded by Irish immigrants more than a century ago.

    Blog text (1)
  • Seems like a pretty tight-knit community.

  • The music scene here is a tight-knit community.

    Blog text (1)
  • And it is a tight-knit community at that.

    Blog text (23)
  • A respected member of our tight-knit community.

    Blog text (16)
  • We are a tight-knit community in Beaumont-Sur-Mer, mademoiselle.

  • I feel really fortunate to have started there because, at the time, it was just an amazing place for punk rock and hardcore, a real tight-knit community.

    Blog text (8)
  • Peasants are subsistence farmers, and many live in tight-knit communities that encapsulate their social life.

    Academic text (2005)
  • Living in a small tight-knit community meant that everyone knew everyone else's business.

Antonyms

A feeling of being separate from other people and the world

How Close

tight-knit community
3 3.5
loosely knit
1 5.5

Surface Forms

Morphology

tight-knit + community

The phrase is transparently built from the adjective 'tight-knit' (closely united/supportive) plus 'community' (a group of people), so the overall meaning is a community that is closely connected. This adjective+noun composition follows a common, literal pattern found in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Tight-knit community comes from knitting: when threads are closely knit and pulled tight they make strong cloth that does not fall apart. So a tight-knit community means people who are closely 'connected' and who 'support' each other.