serrer la vis
\sɛ.ʁe la vis\
The verdict
“serrer la vis” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Réprimer certaines tendances au relâchement.
Corpus desk
Index FR-serrer-la-vis · serrer la vis · French
serrer la vis · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | serrer la vis |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \sɛ.ʁe la vis\ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « serrer la vis » en français
Rare enough to double-check
serrer la vis is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \sɛ.ʁe la vis\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for serrer la vis in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is serrer la vis, spelled S-E-R-R-E-R- -L-A- -V-I-S.
Definition
- 1Réprimer certaines tendances au relâchement.
- 2Réduire le budget d'une institution.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how serrer la vis appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Un seul tenta de s’échapper et, repris, fut mal vu par les autres, auxquels, pendant huit jours, la vis fut serrée d’un tour.
Il me fit grand accueil, mais m’inquiéta beaucoup en me disant que ma vie entière dépendait des études de cette année, et qu’il serait forcé de me « serrer la vis », parce que j’étais « son » candidat au concours des « bourses » du lycée.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.