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tense
1[ tens ]
adjective
- stretched 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 lax 1( def 7 ).
verb (used with or without object)
- to make or become tense.
tense
2[ tens ]
noun
- 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.
tense
1/ tɛns /
noun
- 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
2/ tɛns /
adjective
- 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 Compare lax
in English the vowel (iː) in ``beam'' is tense
verb
- often foll by up to make or become tense
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”).
Derived Forms
- ˈtenseless, adjective
- ˈtenseness, noun
- ˈtensely, adverb
Other Words From
- tensely adverb
- tenseness noun
- un·tensing adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of tense1
Origin of tense2
Word History and Origins
Origin of tense1
Origin of tense2
Example Sentences
Turkish has an inferential tense marked by the suffix -miş, which you have to add to verbs whenever you are talking about something you did not personally see or something that you doubt.
Landau seemed incredibly nice, but I found the mood strangely tense.
Elections are always tense, but this year was something different.
A tense advertising landscape in fourth quarter 2019 for Dow Jones — which includes The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s — saw its digital advertising revenue tumble by 7%.
In this case, it appears those processes have failed, and at a moment when relations between China and India – both nuclear armed states – are already tense.
The gym—a fragile collective of human ecology at the best of times—has suddenly become even more tense.
A tense commute to work in Houston will start to resemble a tense commute in Boston or New York City.
Elisabetta Piqué, who knew Bergoglio well as a cardinal, writes in the present tense as if to convey real time passing.
I covered New York politics for 15 years, and I saw some awfully tense moments between the police and Democratic politicians.
Since Nestdrop continues to do so as of this writing, they wager a tense gamble that the odds will be in their favor.
Then, as the atmosphere of the room surged back, tense with vitality, her mind leapt forward in welcome.
He crouched, nerves and muscles tense, controled in spite of the torturous cloud of scalding vapor that pressed close to him.
The two men eyed one another for a moment of tense silence, and marked suspicion.
A faint click reaches my tense ear, the streaming lightning burns into my face.
Will you tell us more about it, please, she whispered in a strange, tense voice; its soso difficult to understand.
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