tense

/tɛns/

/tɛns/

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

1. adjective

   taut or rigid; stretched tight
   “tense piano strings”

   synonyms:

   tight

   closely constrained or constricted or constricting

   overstrung

   too tightly strung

   taut, tight

   pulled or drawn tight

   antonyms:

   lax

   lacking in strength or firmness or resilience

   loose

   not tight; not closely constrained or constricted or constricting

   drooping, droopy, sagging

   hanging down (as from exhaustion or weakness)

   limp

   lacking in strength or firmness or resilience

   floppy

   hanging limply

   loose, slack

   not tense or taut

   loose-jointed

   loosely articulated or constructed

   tensionless

   free from tension
2. adjective

   in or of a state of physical or nervous tension
   synonyms:

   agitated

   troubled emotionally and usually deeply

   uneasy

   lacking a sense of security or affording no ease or reassurance

   aroused, wound up

   brought to a state of great tension

   cliff-hanging, nail-biting, suspenseful, suspensive

   (of a situation) characterized by or causing suspense

   taut

   subjected to great tension; stretched tight

   antsy, fidgety, fretful, itchy, twitchy

   nervous and unable to relax

   edgy, high-strung, highly strung, jittery, jumpy, nervy, overstrung, restive, uptight

   in a very tense state

   electric

   (of a situation) exceptionally tense

   isotonic

   of two or more muscles; having equal tension

   nervous

   easily agitated

   strained

   showing signs of mental and emotional tension

   unrelaxed

   nor relaxed

   pumped, pumped up, pumped-up, wired

   tense with excitement and enthusiasm as from a rush of adrenaline

   antonyms:

   relaxed

   without strain or anxiety

   unagitated

   not agitated or disturbed emotionally

   easy

   free from worry or anxiety

   degage

   free and relaxed in manner

   laid-back, mellow

   unhurried and relaxed

   unstrained

   not placed under psychological stress
3. adjective

   pronounced with relatively tense tongue muscles (e.g., the vowel sound in `beat')
   synonyms:

   constricted

   especially tense; especially in some dialects

   antonyms:

   lax

   pronounced with muscles of the tongue and jaw relatively relaxed (e.g., the vowel sound in `bet')
4. verb

   become stretched or tense or taut
   “the bodybuilder's neck muscles tensed”

   synonyms: strain

   type of:

   tighten

   become tight or tighter
5. verb

   increase the tension on
   “alternately relax and tense your calf muscle”

   “tense the rope manually before tensing the spring”

   type of:

   alter, change, modify

   cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
6. verb

   become tense, nervous, or uneasy
   “He tensed up when he saw his opponent enter the room”

   synonyms: tense up

   antonyms:

   relax

   become less tense, rest, or take one's ease

   type of:

   change state, turn

   undergo a transformation or a change of position or action
7. verb

   cause to be tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious
   “he got a phone call from his lawyer that tensed him up”

   synonyms: strain, tense up

   antonyms:

   relax

   cause to feel relaxed

   types:

   extend, stretch

   extend one's limbs or muscles, or the entire body

   spread-eagle

   stretch out completely

   crane, stretch out

   stretch (the neck) so as to see better

   type of:

   affect

   act physically on; have an effect upon
8. noun

   a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time
   types:

   present, present tense

   a verb tense that expresses actions or states at the time of speaking

   aorist

   a verb tense in some languages (classical Greek and Sanskrit) expressing action (especially past action) without indicating its completion or continuation

   past, past tense

   a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the past

   future, future tense

   a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the future

   continuous tense, imperfect, imperfect tense, progressive, progressive tense

   a tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going

   perfect, perfect tense, perfective, perfective tense

   a tense of verbs used in describing action that has been completed (sometimes regarded as perfective aspect)

   historical present

   the use of the present tense to describe past actions or states

   present progressive, present progressive tense

   a tense used to express action that is on-going at the time of utterance

   present perfect, present perfect tense

   a perfective tense used to express action completed in the present

   preterit, preterite

   a term formerly used to refer to the simple past tense

   past perfect, past perfect tense, pluperfect, pluperfect tense

   a perfective tense used to express action completed in the past

   past progressive, past progressive tense

   a progressive tense used to describe on-going action in the past

   future perfect, future perfect tense

   a perfective tense used to describe action that will be completed in the future

   future progressive, future progressive tense

   a progressive tense used to express action that will be on-going in the future

   type of:

   grammatical category, syntactic category

   (grammar) a category of words having the same grammatical properties