Definition of TENSE

tense

Plural: tenses

Noun

  • a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time
  • The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists.
  • An inflected form of a verb that indicates tense.
  • A grammatical aspect.
  • A verb form or construction indicating a combination of tense, aspect, and mood.

Verb

Verb Forms: tensed, tensing, tenses

  • To make or become taut or rigid; to tighten muscles.
  • become stretched or tense or taut
    • "the bodybuilder's neck muscles tensed;"
  • increase the tension on
    • "alternately relax and tense your calf muscle"
    • "tense the rope manually before tensing the spring"
  • become tense, nervous, or uneasy
    • "He tensed up when he saw his opponent enter the room"
  • cause to be tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious
    • "he got a phone call from his lawyer that tensed him up"
  • To apply a tense to.
  • To make tense.
  • To become tense.

Adjective

  • Stretched tight or rigid; showing signs of mental or physical strain.
  • in or of a state of physical or nervous tension
  • pronounced with relatively tense tongue muscles (e.g., the vowel sound in `beat')
  • taut or rigid; stretched tight
    • "tense piano strings"

Adj

  • Showing signs of stress or strain; not relaxed.
  • Characterized by strain (on the nerves, emotions, etc). (Compare charged.)
  • Pulled taut, without any slack.
  • Produced with relative constriction of the vocal tract.

Examples

  • Dyirbal verbs are not inflected for tense.
  • English only has a past tense and a non-past tense; it has no future tense.
  • He could feel his shoulders TENSE with every tile draw.
  • The "simple present" tense in English can have several meanings.
  • The atmosphere in the Scrabble room grew TENSE as the final scores were tallied.
  • The Spanish teacher told the student to use the imperfect tense instead of the preterite tense.
  • You need to relax, all this overtime and stress is making you tense.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English tens, from Old French tens (modern French temps), from Latin tempus. Doublet of tempo and tempus.

Synonyms

strain, tense up, stressed, unrelaxed

Antonyms

lax, relax, relaxed, unstrain

Scrabble Score: 5

tense: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
tense: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
tense: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 6

tense: valid Words With Friends Word