resserrer

French

Etymology

From re- (“again”) +‎ serrer (“to tighten”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.sɛ.ʁe/ ~ /ʁə.se.ʁe/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: resserré, resserrée, resserrées, resserrés
• Rhymes: -e

Verb

resserrer

1. (transitive) to retighten (knot, belt, screw, etc.)
2. (reflexive) to tighten (link, knot)

   Plus l’animal bougeait et plus la corde se resserait autour de son cou.

   The more the animal moved, the more the rope tightened around its neck.

3. (reflexive) to become stricter (discipline)

   Depuis le dernier conseil de classe, la discipline s’est resserrée.

   Since the last staff meeting, discipline has got stricter.

4. (reflexive) to narrow (road, gap)

   L’écart entre les coureurs se resserre.

   The distance between the runners is narrowing.

Conjugation

Conjugation of resserrer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	resserrer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	resserrant /ʁə.sɛ.ʁɑ̃/ or /ʁə.se.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		resserré /ʁə.sɛ.ʁe/ or /ʁə.se.ʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	resserre /ʁə.sɛʁ/	resserres /ʁə.sɛʁ/	resserre /ʁə.sɛʁ/	resserrons /ʁə.sɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʁə.se.ʁɔ̃/	resserrez /ʁə.sɛ.ʁe/ or /ʁə.se.ʁe/	resserrent /ʁə.sɛʁ/
	imperfect	resserrais /ʁə.sɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ʁə.se.ʁɛ/	resserrais /ʁə.sɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ʁə.se.ʁɛ/	resserrait /ʁə.sɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ʁə.se.ʁɛ/	resserrions /ʁə.sɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ʁə.se.ʁjɔ̃/	resserriez /ʁə.sɛ.ʁje/ or /ʁə.se.ʁje/	resserraient /ʁə.sɛ.ʁɛ/ or /ʁə.se.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	resserrai /ʁə.sɛ.ʁe/ or /ʁə.se.ʁe/	resserras /ʁə.sɛ.ʁa/ or /ʁə.se.ʁa/	resserra /ʁə.sɛ.ʁa/ or /ʁə.se.ʁa/	resserrâmes /ʁə.sɛ.ʁam/ or /ʁə.se.ʁam/	resserrâtes /ʁə.sɛ.ʁat/ or /ʁə.se.ʁat/	resserrèrent /ʁə.sɛ.ʁɛʁ/ or /ʁə.se.ʁɛʁ/
	future	resserrerai /ʁə.sɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /ʁə.se.ʁə.ʁe/	resserreras /ʁə.sɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /ʁə.se.ʁə.ʁa/	resserrera /ʁə.sɛ.ʁə.ʁa/ or /ʁə.se.ʁə.ʁa/	resserrerons /ʁə.sɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʁə.se.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/	resserrerez /ʁə.sɛ.ʁə.ʁe/ or /ʁə.se.ʁə.ʁe/	resserreront /ʁə.sɛ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʁə.se.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	resserrerais /ʁə.sɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ʁə.se.ʁə.ʁɛ/	resserrerais /ʁə.sɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ʁə.se.ʁə.ʁɛ/	resserrerait /ʁə.sɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ʁə.se.ʁə.ʁɛ/	resserrerions /ʁə.sɛ.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ʁə.se.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	resserreriez /ʁə.sɛ.ʁə.ʁje/ or /ʁə.se.ʁə.ʁje/	resserreraient /ʁə.sɛ.ʁə.ʁɛ/ or /ʁə.se.ʁə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	resserre /ʁə.sɛʁ/	resserres /ʁə.sɛʁ/	resserre /ʁə.sɛʁ/	resserrions /ʁə.sɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ʁə.se.ʁjɔ̃/	resserriez /ʁə.sɛ.ʁje/ or /ʁə.se.ʁje/	resserrent /ʁə.sɛʁ/
	imperfect2	resserrasse /ʁə.sɛ.ʁas/ or /ʁə.se.ʁas/	resserrasses /ʁə.sɛ.ʁas/ or /ʁə.se.ʁas/	resserrât /ʁə.sɛ.ʁa/ or /ʁə.se.ʁa/	resserrassions /ʁə.sɛ.ʁa.sjɔ̃/ or /ʁə.se.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	resserrassiez /ʁə.sɛ.ʁa.sje/ or /ʁə.se.ʁa.sje/	resserrassent /ʁə.sɛ.ʁas/ or /ʁə.se.ʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	resserre /ʁə.sɛʁ/	—	resserrons /ʁə.sɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /ʁə.se.ʁɔ̃/	resserrez /ʁə.sɛ.ʁe/ or /ʁə.se.ʁe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• resserrage
• resserré
• resserrement
• resserrer les rangs
• ultra-resserré, ultraresserré

 

Further reading

• “resserrer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.