tense1
adj.
- (especially of a muscle) stretched tight or rigid.
- (of a person) unable to relax.
▸causing or showing anxiety and nervousness.
- Phonetics (of a speech sound, especially a vowel) pronounced with the vocal muscles stretched tight. The opposite of lax.
v.
make or become tense.
Derivative
- tensely adv.
- tenseness n.
- tensity n. (rare).
Etymology
C17: from L. tensus, tendere ‘to stretch’.
tense2
n.
Grammar a set of forms taken by a verb to indicate the time (and sometimes the continuance or completeness) of the action in relation to the time of the utterance.
Derivative
Etymology
ME: from OFr. tens, from L. tempus ‘time’.