Unscramble tenses

Definition of tense

adjective:

• in or of a state of physical or nervous tension. Antonyms: relaxed.
• pronounced with relatively tense tongue muscles (e.g., the vowel sound in `beat'). Antonyms: lax.
• taut or rigid; stretched tight; "tense piano strings". Antonyms: lax.

noun:

• a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time.

verb:

• become stretched or tense or taut; "the bodybuilder's neck muscles tensed;", "the rope strained when the weight was attached". Synonyms: strain.
• increase the tension on; "alternately relax and tense your calf muscle", "tense the rope manually before tensing the spring".
• become tense, nervous, or uneasy; "He tensed up when he saw his opponent enter the room". Synonyms: tense up. Antonyms: relax.
• 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. Antonyms: relax, unstrain.

Related words

aorist, extend, future, imperfect, past, perfect, perfective, present, progressive, stretch.

Words nearby

cense, dense, lense, sense, tease, tenge, tensed, terse.

Rhymes with

commence, commonsense, condense, defence, defense, dense, dispense, expense, fence, hence, immense, incense, intense, offense, pretense, sense, suspense, thence, whence, whence.