1. A grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time
   "The past tense in English often ends in '-ed'"

1. Become stretched, tense or taut
   "the bodybuilder's neck muscles tensed";
   - strain
    
2. Increase the tension on
   "alternately relax and tense your calf muscle"; "tense the rope manually before tensing the spring"
    
3. Become tense, nervous, or uneasy
   "He tensed up when he saw his opponent enter the room";
   - tense up
    
4. Cause to be tense and uneasy, nervous or anxious
   "he got a phone call from his lawyer that tensed him up";
   - strain, tense up

1. In or of a state of physical or nervous tension
   "The tense atmosphere in the room was palpable as they awaited the results"
    
2. (phonetics) pronounced with relatively tense tongue muscles (e.g., the vowel sound in 'beat')
   "The tense vowel in 'seat' contrasts with the lax vowel in 'sit'"
    
3. Taut or rigid; stretched tight
   "tense piano strings"

Sounds like: tenors, te, tense

Derived forms: tenses, tenser, tensest, tensing, tensed

See also: agitated, amped [informal], antsy [N. Amer, informal], aroused, cliff-hanging, constricted, edgy, electric, fidgety, fretful, high-keyed, highly strung [Brit], high-strung, isotonic, itchy, jittery, jumpy, keyed-up, nail-biting, nervous, nervy, on edge, overstrung, pumped, pumped up, pumped-up, restive, restless, squirrelly [N. Amer, informal], strained, suspenseful, suspensive, taut, tight, twitchy [informal], uneasy, unrelaxed, uptight [informal], wired [informal], wound up

Type of: affect, alter, change, change state, grammatical category, modify, syntactic category, tighten, turn

Antonym: lax, relaxed, unbend, unwind

Encyclopedia: Tense, aspect and mood