tense

¹ American  

[tens] / tɛns /

adjective

tenser, tensest

1. stretched tight, as a cord, fiber, etc.; drawn taut; rigid.

2. in a state of mental or nervous strain; high-strung; taut.

   a tense person.

3. characterized by a strain upon the nerves or feelings.

   a tense moment.

4. Phonetics. pronounced with relatively tense tongue muscles; narrow.

---

verb (used with or without object)

tensed, tensing

1. to make or become tense.

tense ² American  

[tens] / tɛns /

noun

1. a category of verbal inflection that serves chiefly to specify the time of the action or state expressed by the verb.

2. a set of such categories or constructions in a particular language.

3. the time, as past, present, or future, expressed by such a category.

4. such categories or constructions, or their meanings collectively.

---

tense ¹ British  

/ tɛns /

adjective

1. stretched or stressed tightly; taut or rigid

2. under mental or emotional strain

3. producing mental or emotional strain

   a tense day

4. (of a speech sound) pronounced with considerable muscular effort and having relatively precise accuracy of articulation and considerable duration Compare lax

   in English the vowel (iː) in ``beam'' is tense

---

verb

1. (often foll by up) to make or become tense

tense ² British  

/ tɛns /

noun

1. grammar a category of the verb or verbal inflections, such as present, past, and future, that expresses the temporal relations between what is reported in a sentence and the time of its utterance

---

tense Cultural  

1. An inflectional (see inflection) form of verbs; it expresses the time at which the action described by the verb takes place. The major tenses are past, present, and future. The verb in “I sing” is in the present tense; in “I sang,” past tense; in “I will sing,” future tense. Other tenses are the present perfect (“I have sung”), the past perfect (“I had sung”), and the future perfect (“I will have sung”).

---

Other Word Forms

• tenseless adjective
• tenselessly adverb
• tenselessness noun
• tensely adverb
• tenseness noun
• untensing adjective

Etymology

Origin of tense¹

First recorded in 1660–70; from Latin tēnsus, past participle of tendere “to stretch”; tend ¹

Origin of tense¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English tens, from Middle French, from Latin tempus “time”

Example Sentences

“Before I was so angry and just so tense. Now I just move on easier and faster when things don’t go my way.”

From Los Angeles Times

Korda warmed up in case of a playoff, but a tense day ended without her returning to the course.

From Barron's

“I’ve always known she loves me. Present tense,” Chin said of her mother, with whom she remains close.

From Los Angeles Times

It is painful to have to write about Catherine O’Hara, so alive and lively a presence, in the past tense.

From Los Angeles Times

No one knows the answer to that last question, although nearly every local brought it up and seemed a little tense.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• agitated
• anxious
• apprehensive
• edgy
• excited
• jittery
• nervous
• restive
• shaky
• strained
• stressful
• uneasy