tense as a noun: - 1
as a verb: - 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
as an adjective: - 1
- 2
- 3
tense
noun
1 tense
A grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time.
Polish: czas gramatyczny, czas
verb
1 tense
Become stretched or tense or taut:
— The bodybuilder's neck muscles tensed.
synonym: strain.
2 tense
3 tense
Become tense, nervous, or uneasy:
— He tensed up when he saw his opponent enter the room.
synonym: tense up.
4 tense
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.
adjective
1 tense
In or of a state of physical or nervous tension.
Roget 323:
hard,
rigid,
stubborn,
stiff,
firm;
starch,
starched;
stark,
unbending,
unlimber,
unyielding;
inflexible,
tense;
indurate,
indurated;
gritty,
proof.
adamant,
adamantine,
adamantean†;
concrete,
stony,
granitic,
calculous,
lithic†,
vitreous;
horny,
corneous†;
bony;
osseous,
ossific†;
cartilaginous;
hard as a rock
etc.
n.;
stiff as buckram,
stiff as a poker;
stiff as starch,
stiff as as board.
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Roget 824:
excited
etc.
v.;
wrought up,
up the qui vive [Fr.],
astir,
sparkling;
in a quiver
etc.
821,
in a fever,
in a ferment,
in a blaze,
in a state of excitement;
in hysterics;
black in the face,
overwrought,
tense,
taught,
on a razor's edge;
hot,
red-hot,
flushed,
feverish;
all of a twitter,
in a pucker;
with quivering lips,
with tears in one's eyes.
flaming;
boiling over;
ebullient,
seething;
foaming at the mouth;
fuming,
raging,
carried away by passion,
wild,
raving,
frantic,
mad,
distracted,
beside oneself,
out of one's wits,
ready to burst,
bouleverse†,
demoniacal.
lost,
eperdu [Fr.],
tempest-tossed;
haggard;
ready to sink.
stung to the quick,
up,
on one's high ropes.
exciting,
absorbing,
riveting,
distracting
etc.
v.;
impressive,
warm,
glowing,
fervid,
swelling,
imposing,
spirit-stirring,
thrilling;
high-wrought;
soul-stirring,
soul-subduing;
heart-stirring,
heart-swelling,
heart-thrilling;
agonizing
etc.
(painful)
830;
telling,
sensational,
hysterical;
overpowering,
overwhelming;
more than flesh and blood can bear;
yellow.
piquant
etc.
(pungent)
392;
spicy,
appetizing,
provocative,
provoquant†,
tantalizing.
eager to go,
anxious to go,
chafing at the bit.
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2 tense
Pronounced with relatively tense tongue muscles (e.g., the vowel sound in `beat').
3 tense
Taut or rigid; stretched tight.
Moby thesaurus: accented, agitated, all-overish, alveolar, antsy, anxious, anxioused up, aorist, apical, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, apprehensive, articulated, assimilated, back, barytone, bilabial, bothered, brace, broad, cacuminal, central, cerebral, checked, chill, chilly, chronology, close, cold, concerned, consonant, consonantal, continuant, continue, continuity, cool, dental, disaccordant, disquieted, disquieting, dissimilated, distressed, distressing, disturbed, disturbing, dorsal, drag out, dragged out, draw, draw out, drawn, drawn out, duration, durative, duree, edgy, elongate, elongated, extend, extended, fearful, fidgety, firm, flat, fluttery, foreboding, fraught, front, frosty, fussy, future, future perfect, glide, glossal, glottal, guttural, hard, haul, heave, heavy, high, high-strung, historical present, icy, imperfect, in a pucker, in a stew, in suspense, incompatible, inhospitable, inimical, intense, intonated, jittery, jumpy, keyed up, keyed-up, labial, labiodental, labiovelar, lastingness, lateral, lax, lengthen, lengthen out, lengthened, let out, light, lingual, liquid, low, mid, misgiving, monophthongal, muted, narrow, nasal, nasalized, nerve-racking, nervous, nervy, occlusive, on edge, on tenterhooks, on tiptoe, open, overanxious, overapprehensive, overexert, overextend, overstrain, overtax, overwrought, oxytone, palatal, palatalized, past, past perfect, perfect, period, perturbed, pharyngeal, pharyngealized, phonemic, phonetic, phonic, pitch, pitched, pluperfect, point tense, pokerlike, posttonic, present, present perfect, press, preterit, produce, progressive tense, prolong, prolongate, prolongated, prolonged, protract, protracted, psychological time, pull, pulled, queasy, quivering, rack, ramrodlike, reinforce, renitent, restive, restless, retroflex, rigid, rigidify, rodlike, rounded, rusty, screw up, semivowel, shore up, soft, solicitous, sonant, space, space-time, spin out, spun out, starched, starchy, stiff, stiff as buckram, stiffen, stopped, straggling, strain, strain every nerve, strained, strengthen, stress, stressed, stressful, stretch, stretch out, stretched, stretched out, stretched tight, string out, strong, strung out, surd, suspenseful, sweat blood, syllabic, taut, tauten, tax, tension, term, the future, the past, the present, thick, throaty, tide, tight, tighten, time, timebinding, tonal, tonic, trice up, troubled, tug, twangy, unaccented, unamiable, unamicable, uncordial, under a strain, uneasy, unfriendly, ungenial, unharmonious, unquiet, unrelaxed, unrestful, unrounded, unsettled, unsociable, unstressed, upset, uptight, velar, virgate, vocalic, vocoid, voiced, voiceless, vowel, vowellike, weak, while, wide, with bated breath, with muscles tense, worked up, worried, worrisome, worrying, wound up, wrought up, zealous ... show more.
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