tense

Meanings

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

• 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

• 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.
• Pulled taut, without any slack.
• Produced with relative constriction of the vocal tract.

Synonyms

charged, strain, stressed, tense up, unrelaxed

Antonyms

lax, relax, relaxed, unstrain

Related Words

intense, See: Category:en:Tenses, tend, tension, tent

Anagrams of tense