tense
1stretched tight, as a cord, fiber, etc.; drawn taut; rigid.
in a state of mental or nervous strain; high-strung; taut: a tense person.
characterized by a strain upon the nerves or feelings: a tense moment.
Phonetics. pronounced with relatively tense tongue muscles; narrow. : Compare lax1 (def. 7).
to make or become tense.
Origin of tense
1Other words from tense
- tensely, adverb
- tenseness, noun
- un·tens·ing, adjective
Other definitions for tense (2 of 2)
a category of verbal inflection that serves chiefly to specify the time of the action or state expressed by the verb.
a set of such categories or constructions in a particular language.
the time, as past, present, or future, expressed by such a category.
such categories or constructions, or their meanings collectively.
Origin of tense
2Other words from tense
- tenseless, adjective
- tense·less·ly, adverb
- tense·less·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use tense in a sentence
I discovered Martin’s paintings four years ago, during a similarly noisy, tense time.
After the 2016 election, Agnes Martin's paintings gave me solace. This time, they're still an escape. | Kelsey Ables | November 8, 2020 | Washington PostThe Washington Post went with “A nation divided,” while USA Today chose “A tense nation wonders what’s next.”
How newspaper front pages treated an Election Day with no clear winner | Marisa Iati | November 4, 2020 | Washington PostNow with a tense election nearing, they’re taking preemptive steps to prepare for turmoil that could last days.
Stores in the US are bracing for destruction following the election | Marc Bain | October 29, 2020 | QuartzI love mountain biking, but now even the thought of riding a short section of road on the way to the trails makes my body tense and tears well up in my eyes.
It’s been a tense process, because the political power of a Supreme Court justice is enormous—a president gets at most eight years to shape the law but a Supreme Court justice has a lifetime appointment to decide whether laws are constitutional.
My sleep is hot and jaw-tensed and filled with dreams of death.
The emphasis is on fresh faces and tensed bodies and muscles, rather than come-to-bed eyes, pouting, and bulges down below.
Prince Fielder’s Demi Moore Moment: World Loses It Over Athlete Without Six-Pack | Tim Teeman | July 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was announced that a new face would soon be stopping by, and the mood slightly tensed.
His tensed muscles were aching unheeded; his sense of feeling seemed lost, so intently was he waiting for some further word.
Astounding Stories, May, 1931 | VariousFrankle tensed, a chill running up his spine, his eyes drawn back to the gleaming jewel.
The Link | Alan Edward NourseIt became bloated with a poisonous wrath, his eyes gleamed evilly and his muscles tensed.
'Drag' Harlan | Charles Alden SeltzerTick-Tock, ordinarily the most restful and composed of companions, definitely was still tensed up about something.
Novice | James H. SchmitzHe was suppressing it with an effort, but it showed in his tensed muscles and in his flushed face.
'Drag' Harlan | Charles Alden Seltzer
British Dictionary definitions for tense (1 of 2)
/ (tɛns) /
stretched or stressed tightly; taut or rigid
under mental or emotional strain
producing mental or emotional strain: a tense day
(of a speech sound) pronounced with considerable muscular effort and having relatively precise accuracy of articulation and considerable duration: in English the vowel ( iː ) in ``beam'' is tense Compare lax (def. 4)
(often foll by up) to make or become tense
Origin of tense
1Derived forms of tense
- tensely, adverb
- tenseness, noun
British Dictionary definitions for tense (2 of 2)
/ (tɛns) /
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
Origin of tense
2Derived forms of tense
- tenseless, adjective
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
Cultural definitions for tense
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”).
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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