tense
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(tĕns) 
adj., tens·er, tens·est.
To make or become tense.
tenseness tense'ness n.
tense2 (tĕns)
n.
adj., tens·er, tens·est.
- Tightly stretched; taut. See synonyms at stiff, tight.
- In a state of mental or nervous tension.
- Characterized by nervous tension or suspense.
- Linguistics. Enunciated with taut muscles, as the sound (ē) in keen.
To make or become tense.
[Latin tēnsus, past participle of tendere, to stretch.]
tensely tense'ly adv.tenseness tense'ness n.
tense2 (tĕns)
n.
- Any one of the inflected forms in the conjugation of a verb that indicates the time, such as past, present, or future, as well as the continuance or completion of the action or state.
- A set of tense forms indicating a particular time: the future tense.
[Middle English tens, from Old French, time, from Latin tempus.]
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tense
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is the location in time of the state or action expressed by a verb. English verbs properly have only two tenses, the present (I stay) and past (I stayed). The future is formed with shall or will (I shall / will stay: see shall and will) or (to express intention or purpose) be going to (I am going to stay), other forms of the past are formed with auxiliary verbs (I have been staying/ I was staying / the emphatic form I did stay), and the past perfect is formed with the past tense of have (I had stayed). Choice of tense mostly corresponds to actual time, but there are conventional uses of tenses other than this, e.g. the historic present in narratives (see the separate entry) and the use of the future for present as in polite requests such as Will that be all for now?. Choice of tense becomes more complex in reported speech (He said it is/was a nuisance): for this see sequence of tenses.
| tenor, tenet, tend | |
| terminal, terminus, terminate, terrain |
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In grammar, an inflected form of a verb indicating the time of a narrated event in relation to the time at which the narrator is speaking. Time is often perceived as a continuum with three main divisions, past, present, and future, defined in relation to the time when the event is described. Other categories, including mood and aspect, may further specify the action as definite or indefinite, completed or not completed, lasting or nonlasting, and recurring or occurring once.
For more information on tense, visit Britannica.com.
Roget's Thesaurus:
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tense
adjective
- Stretched tightly: stiff, taut, tight. See tighten/loosen.
- Feeling or exhibiting nervous tension: edgy, fidgety, jittery, jumpy, nervous, restive, restless, skittish, twitchy. Slang uptight. Idioms: a bundle of nerves, all wound up, on edge. See tighten/loosen.
verb
- To make or become tense: stiffen, tauten, tighten. See tighten/loosen.
Antonyms by Answers.com:
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tense
adj
Definition: tight, stretched
Antonyms: limp, limpid, loose, relaxed, slack
adj
Definition: under stress, pressure
Antonyms: calm, easy-going, laid-back, relaxed, uncaring
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Of programs, very clever and efficient. A tense piece of code often got that way because it was highly tuned, but sometimes it was just based on a great idea. A comment in a clever routine by Mike Kazar, once a grad-student hacker at CMU: “This routine is so tense it will bring tears to your eyes.” A tense programmer is one who produces tense code.
Columbia Encyclopedia:
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tense
tense [O.Fr., from Lat.,=time], in the grammar of many languages, a category of time distinctions expressed by any conjugated form of a verb. In Latin inflection the tense of a verb is indicated by a suffix that also indicates the verb's voice, mood, person, and number. Tense specifies whether the verb refers to action in the past, present, or future. A tenselike distinction found in many languages (e.g., Russian and Hebrew) is that of aspect, by which verbs specify whether or not the action has been completed; thus, he is risen might be translated by a verb in the perfective aspect, and he is rising by the same verb in the imperfective aspect. Aspect also refers to the distinction that a verb can make between repeated or ongoing action (he ran daily) and an event represented as occurring at a single point in time (he ran that race). Some terms borrowed from Greek grammar into English suggest aspectlike differences of meaning; these are imperfect (I was reading when …), perfect (I've read the book), and aorist (I read it last year). English tenses can also be classified as simple (e.g., look and looked) or compound (e.g., have looked, am looking, and will look). Any conjugated form of a verb that indicates tense is said to be finite; the infinitive is a special verb form that lacks all tense (as well as mood, person, and number), although it may indicate the active (to read) or passive (to be read) voice.
An inflectional (see inflection) form of verbs; it expresses the time at which the action described by the verb takes place. The major tenses are past, present, and future. The verb in “I sing” is in the present tense; in “I sang,” past tense; in “I will sing,” future tense. Other tenses are the present perfect (“I have sung”), the past perfect (“I had sung”), and the future perfect (“I will have sung”).
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tense
IN BRIEF: Strained to stiffness. Also: Any of the forms of a verb that show the time of the action or condition.
You can't look at a sleeping cat and be tense.
— Jane Pauley
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categories related to 'tense'
- Grammar and Usage - tense: verb form indicating time of action or state denoted by verb
- Phonetics - tense: (adj) designating vowel pronounced with muscles relatively tense
- Angry, Emotional, Aggressive, or Passionate
See crossword solutions for the clue
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 |
Look up tense in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Tense may refer to:
- Grammatical tense, a temporal linguistic quality expressing the time at, during, or over which a state or action denoted by a verb occurs
- Tenseness, a phonological quality frequently associated with vowels and occasionally with consonants
- Tense, a state of muscle contraction
See also
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This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. |
tense is a grammatical term which shows verb form.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
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Tense
Dansk (Danish)
1.
adj. - spændt, anspændt
v. intr. - spænde, få spændinger
v. tr. - spænde (sammen)
idioms:
- tense up stramme op
2.
n. - grammatisk tid
Nederlands (Dutch)
zenuwachtig, gespannen, angstig, verkrampen, tijd(svorm)
Français (French)
1.
adj. - tendu, rigide, de tension
v. intr. - se raidir
v. tr. - tendre, raidir, se contracter
idioms:
- tense up se tendre, se raidir, se crisper
2.
n. - (Ling) temps
Deutsch (German)
1.
adj. - gespannt, spannungsgeladen, angespannt
v. - spannen, sich verkrampfen, sich verspannen
idioms:
- tense up sich verkrampfen, sich verspannen
2.
n. - Tempus
Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - τεντώνω/-ομαι, τσιτώνω/-ομαι
adj. - τεντωμένος (κν. τσιτωμένος), αγχωμένος
n. - (γραμμ.) χρόνος ρήματος
idioms:
- tense up σφίγγομαι, τσιτώνομαι
Italiano (Italian)
tendere, contrarsi, teso
idioms:
- tense up contrarsi
Português (Portuguese)
v. - entesar, esticar
adj. - tenso, esticado, com tensão nervosa
n. - tempo (m) (de verbo)
idioms:
- tense up ficar nervoso ou tenso
Русский (Russian)
(грам.) время, напряженность, напрячь, напряженный, натянутый
idioms:
- tense up в напряженном состоянии
Español (Spanish)
1.
adj. - tenso, tirante
v. intr. - ponerse tenso, tensarse
v. tr. - tensar, poner en tensión, estirar
idioms:
- tense up ponerse tenso
2.
n. - tiempo
Svenska (Swedish)
v. - spänna/s/, strama/s/ åt, stäcka/s/
adj. - spänd, stram, åtdragen
n. - tempus, tidsform (gramm.)
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 拉紧的, 绷紧的, 引起紧张的, 紧张的, 使拉紧, 使绷紧, 使紧张, 拉紧, 绷紧, 变得紧张
idioms:
- tense up 紧张
2. 时态
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
adj. - 拉緊的, 繃緊的, 引起緊張的, 緊張的
v. tr. - 使拉緊, 使繃緊, 使緊張
v. intr. - 拉緊, 繃緊, 變得緊張
idioms:
- tense up 緊張
2.
n. - 時態
한국어 (Korean)
1.
adj. - 팽팽한, 부자연스러운, 딱딱한
v. intr. - 팽팽해지다, 긴장하다
v. tr. - 팽팽하게 하다, 긴장하다
idioms:
- tense up 긴장하다
2.
n. - 시제, 시칭
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 緊張した, ぴんと張った
n. - 時制
v. - 緊張させる, ぴんと張る
idioms:
- tense up 緊張する
العربيه (Arabic)
(فعل) يتوتر, يوتر (صفه) متوتر (الاسم) توتر - شد
עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - מתוח, דרוך, נרגש
v. intr. - נמתח, נרגש, נדרך
v. tr. - מתח
n. - זמן (בדקדוק)
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