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 suddenly–-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.
Definitions of tense
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taut or rigid; stretched tight“tense piano strings”
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Synonyms:
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tight
closely constrained or constricted or constricting
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overstrung
too tightly strung
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taut, tight
pulled or drawn tight
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Antonyms:
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lax
lacking in strength or firmness or resilience
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loose
not tight; not closely constrained or constricted or constricting
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drooping, droopy, sagging
hanging down (as from exhaustion or weakness)
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limp
lacking in strength or firmness or resilience
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floppy
hanging limply
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loose, slack
not tense or taut
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loose-jointed
loosely articulated or constructed
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tensionless
free from tension
- show more antonyms...
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tight
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in or of a state of physical or nervous tension
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Synonyms:
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agitated
troubled emotionally and usually deeply
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uneasy
lacking a sense of security or affording no ease or reassurance
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aroused, wound up
brought to a state of great tension
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cliff-hanging, nail-biting, suspenseful, suspensive
(of a situation) characterized by or causing suspense
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taut
subjected to great tension; stretched tight
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antsy, fidgety, fretful, itchy
nervous and unable to relax
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edgy, high-strung, highly strung, jittery, jumpy, nervy, overstrung, restive, uptight
being in a tense state
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electric
(of a situation) exceptionally tense
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isotonic
of two or more muscles; having equal tension
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nervous
easily agitated
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strained
showing signs of mental and emotional tension
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unrelaxed
nor relaxed
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pumped, pumped up, pumped-up, wired
tense with excitement and enthusiasm as from a rush of adrenaline
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Antonyms:
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relaxed
without strain or anxiety
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unagitated
not agitated or disturbed emotionally
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easy
free from worry or anxiety
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degage
free and relaxed in manner
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laid-back, mellow
unhurried and relaxed
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unstrained
not placed under psychological stress
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agitated
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pronounced with relatively tense tongue muscles (e.g., the vowel sound in `beat')
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Synonyms:
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constricted
especially tense; especially in some dialects
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Antonyms:
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lax
pronounced with muscles of the tongue and jaw relatively relaxed (e.g., the vowel sound in `bet')
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constricted
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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“He tensed up when he saw his opponent enter the room”
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synonyms:
tense up
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Antonyms:
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decompress, loosen up, relax, slow down, unbend, unwind
become less tense, rest, or take one's ease
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type of:
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change state, turn
undergo a transformation or a change of position or action
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decompress, loosen up, relax, slow down, unbend, unwind
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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”
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types:
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extend, stretch
extend one's limbs or muscles, or the entire body
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spread-eagle
stretch out completely
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crane, stretch out
stretch (the neck) so as to see better
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type of:
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affect
act physically on; have an effect upon
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extend, stretch
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a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time
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types:
- show 14 types...
- hide 14 types...
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present, present tense
a verb tense that expresses actions or states at the time of speaking
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aorist
a verb tense in some languages (classical Greek and Sanskrit) expressing action (especially past action) without indicating its completion or continuation
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past, past tense
a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the past
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future, future tense
a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the future
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continuous tense, imperfect, imperfect tense, progressive, progressive tense
a tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going
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perfect, perfect tense, perfective, perfective tense
a tense of verbs used in describing action that has been completed (sometimes regarded as perfective aspect)
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historical present
the use of the present tense to describe past actions or states
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present progressive, present progressive tense
a tense used to express action that is on-going at the time of utterance
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present perfect, present perfect tense
a perfective tense used to express action completed in the present
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preterit, preterite
a term formerly used to refer to the simple past tense
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past perfect, past perfect tense, pluperfect, pluperfect tense
a perfective tense used to express action completed in the past
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past progressive, past progressive tense
a progressive tense used to describe on-going action in the past
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future perfect, future perfect tense
a perfective tense used to describe action that will be completed in the future
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future progressive, future progressive tense
a progressive tense used to express action that will be on-going in the future
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type of:
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grammatical category, syntactic category
(grammar) a category of words having the same grammatical properties
Pronunciation
US
/tɛns/
UK
/tɛns/
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