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tense1

Pronunciation: /tɛns/

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Definition of tense

adjective

  • 1(especially of a muscle) stretched tight or rigid: she tried to relax her tense muscles
  • Phonetics (of a speech sound, especially a vowel) pronounced with the vocal muscles stretched tight. The opposite of lax.
  • 2unable to relax because of nervousness, anxiety, or stimulation:he was tense with excitement
  • causing or characterized by anxiety and nervousness:they waited in tense silence relations between the two neighbouring states were tense

verb

[no object]
  • become tense, typically through anxiety or nervousness:her body tensed up
  • [with object] make (a muscle or one’s body) tight or rigid:carefully stretch and then tense your muscles

Derivatives

tensely

adverb

tenseness

noun

tensity

noun ( rare)

Origin:

late 17th century: from Latin tensus 'stretched', from the verb tendere

tense in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of tense in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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