Adjective She was feeling pretty tense. Why are you so tense? We sat quietly for a few tense moments. It was a tense meeting. My calf muscles are really tense. Verb She tensed as he walked toward her. He tensed up and missed the putt. Noun The sentence will read better if you change the tense of the verb. You should avoid changing tense in the middle of a paragraph. See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
After a tense standoff in which Bundy supporters surrounded law-enforcement agents and trained rifles on them from nearby hilltops, the Bureau of Land Management released the livestock and withdrew from the area. Luke Mogelson, The New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2022 Some men arrive looking for Carmen, and a tense standoff ends in her mother’s brutal murder. Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 7 Sep. 2022 The tense superpower hair-trigger nuclear standoff was eased, short of Armageddon. David E. Hoffman, Washington Post, 30 Aug. 2022 Details about the gunman began to emerge as the tense standoff carried on. Tamara Qiblawi, CNN, 12 Aug. 2022 There are also indications that the tense standoff between the Justice Department and congressional investigators over the transcripts of interviews conducted for the Jan. 6 committee hearings is easing.BostonGlobe.com, 26 July 2022 There are also indications that the tense standoff between the Justice Department and congressional investigators over the transcripts of interviews conducted for the Jan. 6 committee hearings is easing.New York Times, 26 July 2022 Body camera footage of several Harford County sheriff's deputies' tense standoff and shooting of John Fauver, 53, in a suburban shopping center. Alex Mann, Baltimore Sun, 7 July 2022 Eventually the sub was tugged back out to sea, ending a tense standoff between Swedish forces and a Soviet rescue fleet. Karl Ritter, ajc, 10 May 2022
Verb
But under stress her body would tense, and her mind would falter. Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2022 Watching the towering 600-pound Yamamoto, who started teaching amateur sumo wrestlers in the United States 10 years ago, rise from a metal folding chair to demonstrate the throat-thrust technique on a student makes an onlooker’s muscles tense up.Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2022 Lamar has grown increasingly fixated on his own connection with his fans and detractors, and his verses tense up at nearly every mention of critics. Sheldon Pearce, The New Yorker, 16 May 2022 The sheer speed of tow surfing, especially if there is any chop, which there usually is, causes even great surfers to tense up, and the same goes for the intense acceleration of dropping into a big wave on a gun. William Finnegan, The New Yorker, 23 May 2022 Firstly, cold weather can cause muscles to tense up—that includes in the pelvic floor. Philip Ellis, Men's Health, 19 Feb. 2022 Children can also be encouraged to tense their muscles (like a robot) and then relax them (like spaghetti noodles). Victoria Forster, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2021 The men immediately tense up, but Ty doesn’t notice, and no one says a word. Paula Aceves, Curbed, 9 Nov. 2021 As a result, muscles tense up, which will make a shot more painful.NBC News, 28 Oct. 2021
Noun
The second quickly drifted from tense into fractious and into something closer to punishing.New York Times, 31 July 2022 But nothing is so simple in John Patton Ford's tense, simmering indie, a scathing examination of just how fragile the social safety net — and our own ideas of morality — can be. Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 13 Aug. 2022 The controversy is a parable for our tense, troubled times. Daniel Henninger, WSJ, 15 June 2022 Hearing their uncertainty on how to control the plane made every nerve in my body tense. Dwayne J. Clark, Forbes, 2 June 2022 Much of Tuesday’s testimony featured a tense back and forth between Heard and Depp’s attorney, with the lawyer often interrupting Heard as the actress attempted to argue nearly every question directed her way. Jodi Guglielmi, Rolling Stone, 17 May 2022 And all employees will receive quarterly training in deescalating tense and potentially dangerous situations. Rachel Uranga, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2022 Answers always match their clues in tense, part of speech and foreign languages.New York Times, 1 May 2022 Fez hovers over his kitchen sink — his suit bloodied, his body tense — and relives memories leading up to this moment. Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Feb. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
borrowed from Latin tensus, from past participle of tendere "to extend outward, stretch, spread out" — more at tender entry 3
Middle English tens, borrowed from Anglo-French tens, temps "time, moment, season, tense," going back to Latin tempus "period of time, season, tense" — more at tempo