airtight

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   sealed so that air or another gas cannot pass in or out

   Store the roasted beans in an airtight container to preserve their flavor.

2. 2
   adj

   so carefully constructed that it has no apparent weakness or flaw

   The prosecutor believed the timeline provided an airtight case.

Formed from air + tight. The literal sense describes a seal through which air cannot pass. By the late nineteenth century, the physical image of a gapless enclosure had produced the figurative sense of an argument, case, or plan with no exploitable weakness.

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