tensenoun [ C ]
uk/tens/us/tens/B1 any of the forms of a verb which show the time at which an action happened:
More examples
- How do you say that in the future tense?
- Add -ed to all these verbs to put them in the past tense.
- Which tenses do you know already?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Linguistics: verb forms, tenses & types of verbs
- accusative
- arose
- art
- aspect
- began
- bent
- ditransitive
- historic present
- linking verb
- main verb
- passivize
- past participle
- predicate
- progressive
- the future perfect
- the pluperfect
- the present simple
- the third person
- transitive
- wast
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tenseadjective
uk/tens/us/tens/tense adjective (NERVOUS)
B2 nervous and worried and unable to relax:
B2 If a situation is tense, it causes feelings of worry or nervousness:
More examples
- This attack will exacerbate the already tense relations between the two communities.
- The weeks following the riots were extremely tense.
- For a few tense minutes, the astronauts lost radio contact with mission control.
- Hendry won the world snooker title after a tense 35-frame final.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Anxious and worried
- (all) hot and bothered idiom
- -racked
- a bundle of nerves idiom
- aflutter
- agitate
- alarmed
- anxious
- apprehensive
- demented
- fuss
- get in a sweat idiom
- grim
- harassed
- haunted
- prey on sb's mind idiom
- prey on sth
- rattled
- rest easy idiom
- restive
- wound up
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tense adjective (STRETCHED)
(of your body or part of the body) stretched tight and stiff
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Hard and firm
- (as) stiff/straight as a ramrod idiom
- adamantine
- cast iron
- crisp
- crispy
- crunchy
- fossilized
- hard
- harden
- horny
- ossification
- ossify
- petrified
- ramrod
- solid
- stiff
- stiffly
- stiffness
- temper
- unyielding
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specialized phonetics (of a speech sound) made with more force than other speech sounds
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Linguistics: phonology & phonetics
- alveolar
- approximant
- articulatory
- assimilation
- clear l
- clipped
- consonant
- inflection
- nasalization
- onomatopoeia
- palatal
- palato-alveolar
- pharyngeal
- phoneme
- pronounce
- silent letter
- velum
- voiced
- vowel
- weak form
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tenseverb [ I or T ]
uk/tens/us/tens/also tense upIf you or your muscles tense, your muscles become stiff and tight because you are frightened or nervous, or are preparing yourself to do something:
very nervous and worried and unable to relax because of something that is going to happen:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Tight and tightening
- close-fitting
- fast
- serried
- skinny
- snug
- stiffen
- strain
- taut
- tauten
- tension
- tight
- tighten
- tighten sth up
- tightly
- up
- vice-like
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