TENS

American

[tenz] / tɛnz /

noun

Medicine/Medical.

a self-operated portable device used to treat chronic pain by sending electrical impulses through electrodes placed over the painful area.

TENS British

/ tɛnz /

acronym

transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation: the application of low-voltage electric impulses to the skin to relieve rheumatic pain and provide some pain relief in labour. The pulses are said to stimulate the release of pain-killing endorphins

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of TENS

t(ranscutaneous) e(lectrical) n(erve) s(timulator)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Tens of thousands of Catholics flocked to a small parish in the Mekong Delta on Thursday for the first beatification ceremony held on Vietnamese soil.

From Barron's • Jul. 2, 2026

Tens of billions of dollars were wasted on Neom, where the kingdom began work on a planned futuristic city of nine million people.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 30, 2026

Tens of thousands of people are still believed to be missing.

From BBC • Jun. 29, 2026

Tens of thousands of people housed in these monuments to pre-revolutionary Cuba, which were subdivided into apartments after Fidel Castro took power in 1959, live on the edge, literally.

From Barron's • Jun. 17, 2026

Tens of thousands of schoolchildren would be sitting in their classes, gathered around their new Stormbreakers, waiting for the moment—at midday exactly—when the prime minister would press the button and bring them on-line.

From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023