tensor

American  

[ten-ser, -sawr] / ˈtɛn sər, -sɔr /

noun

1. Anatomy. a muscle that stretches or tightens some part of the body.

2. Mathematics. a mathematical entity with components that change in a particular way in a transformation from one coordinate system to another.

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tensor British  

/ tɛnˈsɔːrɪəl, -sɔː, ˈtɛnsə /

noun

1. anatomy any muscle that can cause a part to become firm or tense

2. maths a set of components, functions of the coordinates of any point in space, that transform linearly between coordinate systems. For three-dimensional space there are 3 r components, where r is the rank. A tensor of zero rank is a scalar, of rank one, a vector

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tensor Scientific  

/ tĕn′sər,-sôr′ /

1. A structure of quantities arranged by zero or more indices, such as a scalar (zero indices), a vector (one index), or a matrix (two indices), which is invariant under transformations of coordinates.

2. Any of various muscles that stretch or tighten a body part, as the muscle that acts to tense the soft palate, called the tensor palati.

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Other Word Forms

• tensorial adjective

Etymology

Origin of tensor

1695–1705; < New Latin: stretcher, equivalent to Latin tend ( ere ) to stretch ( see tend ¹) + -tor -tor, with dt > s

Example Sentences

Seaport Research analyst Jay Goldberg told MarketWatch that the main catalyst on Wednesday was Google’s announcement of the eighth generation of its tensor processing units, which it developed with Broadcom.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 22, 2026

What is likely to be the major rival to Nvidia’s Vera Rubin was unveiled Wednesday as Alphabet’s Google announced its new tensor processing units, or TPUs.

From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026

The companies will work together on the development of Google’s tensor processing units through 2031, and Broadcom will supply networking and other components for Google AI racks over that multiyear span.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 8, 2026

The framework relies on a mathematical strategy known as "tensor train cross interpolation" to achieve this compression.

From Science Daily • Mar. 15, 2026

He was sitting on his bed, wrapping his damaged leg in a tensor bandage.

From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline