tense
Other forms: tenses; tensed; tensing; tenser; tensest
When something's stretched tight, it's tense. A rope can be tense. So can a muscle. When a person's tense, they're anxious.
When a situation is tense, you might say you could "cut the tension with a knife." When a muscle tenses up, it contracts suddenlyâ-a person can be said to tense up also. The opposite of tense is "relaxed." If you tense up during exams, it's probably best to learn some relaxation techniques. The brain works best when it's relaxed.
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taut or rigid; stretched tight“tense piano strings”antonyms:laxlacking in strength or firmness or resilienceloosenot tight; not closely constrained or constricted or constrictinglimplacking in strength or firmness or resiliencefloppyhanging limplyloose-jointedloosely articulated or constructedtensionlessfree from tension
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in or of a state of physical or nervous tensionsynonyms:agitatedtroubled emotionally and usually deeplyuneasylacking a sense of security or affording no ease or reassurancecliff-hanging, nail-biting, suspenseful, suspensive(of a situation) characterized by or causing suspensetautsubjected to great tension; stretched tightedgy, high-strung, highly strung, jittery, jumpy, nervy, overstrung, restive, uptightin a very tense stateelectric(of a situation) exceptionally tenseisotonicof two or more muscles; having equal tensionnervouseasily agitatedstrainedshowing signs of mental and emotional tensionunrelaxednor relaxedantonyms:relaxedwithout strain or anxietyunagitatednot agitated or disturbed emotionallyeasyfree from worry or anxietydegagefree and relaxed in mannerunstrainednot placed under psychological stress
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pronounced with relatively tense tongue muscles (e.g., the vowel sound in `beat')synonyms:constrictedespecially tense; especially in some dialectsantonyms:laxpronounced with muscles of the tongue and jaw relatively relaxed (e.g., the vowel sound in `bet')
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become stretched or tense or taut
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increase the tension on
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become tense, nervous, or uneasy
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cause to be tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious“he got a phone call from his lawyer that tensed him up”antonyms:relaxcause to feel relaxedtypes:spread-eaglestretch out completelytype of:affectact physically on; have an effect upon
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a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of timetypes:aorista verb tense in some languages (classical Greek and Sanskrit) expressing action (especially past action) without indicating its completion or continuationcontinuous tense, imperfect, imperfect tense, progressive, progressive tensea tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-goingperfect, perfect tense, perfective, perfective tensea tense of verbs used in describing action that has been completed (sometimes regarded as perfective aspect)historical presentthe use of the present tense to describe past actions or statespresent progressive, present progressive tensea tense used to express action that is on-going at the time of utterancepresent perfect, present perfect tensea perfective tense used to express action completed in the presentpast perfect, past perfect tense, pluperfect, pluperfect tensea perfective tense used to express action completed in the pastpast progressive, past progressive tensea progressive tense used to describe on-going action in the pastfuture perfect, future perfect tensea perfective tense used to describe action that will be completed in the futurefuture progressive, future progressive tensea progressive tense used to express action that will be on-going in the futuretype of:grammatical category, syntactic category(grammar) a category of words having the same grammatical properties
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Vocabulary lists containing tense
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