Synonyms
Examples of tense in a Sentence
Thomas Fuller, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2024
In October 2018, just weeks after his tense meeting with Kirill in Istanbul, Bartholomew dissolved the 1686 edict that had given Moscow religious control over Ukraine.
—Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2024
Use them to target undereye circles, puffiness, and wrinkles, and to relax your 11s (the tense muscle lines between your eyebrows).
—Jenn Barthole, Glamour, 9 Apr. 2024
The biggest fiction premiere on free-to-air Spanish television in the past two years, racking up a 14.1% market share and 2.0 million viewers on its linear Feb. 25 bow, the daily series opens with a tense chase through lush forests.
—Holly Jones, Variety, 9 Apr. 2024
There are plenty of nostalgic titles on the streamer, from technicolor musicals to tense Westerns.
Tired of FX-heavy blockbusters?
—Danny Horn, EW.com, 9 Apr. 2024
Hostage families are having tense exchanges with Netanyahu, demanding more action.
—Bianna Golodryga, CNN, 7 Apr. 2024
Behind the scenes with Blinken and the tense Biden-Netanyahu phone call: Reporter's notebook
In an attempt to meet the needs of Gazans, several countries, including the U.S., have airdropped food into the strip, with more than 166,000 meals since March 5.
—Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 7 Apr. 2024
The atmosphere in the meeting room at the Los Lagos Golf Course — itself a splash of green on the windswept brown landscape of Arizona's Mojave Desert — is as tense as a coiled spring when Tyler Carlson, CEO of the Mohave Electric Cooperative, steps to the podium.
—The Arizona Republic, 7 Apr. 2024
Roger Cohen, New York Times, 31 Jan. 2024
If humming doesn’t appeal, try tensing your toes to banish stress instead.
—Georgia Day, Glamour, 25 Dec. 2023
These had to be reinforced, and the stunt women tensed by four-way harnesses and aided by a wind-machine at the back of the car so as to stand up at speeds of 120 mph.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 18 Dec. 2023
Set-up: The band should go mid-quad above the knee to tense the legs.
—Dominique Fluker, Essence, 3 Jan. 2024
According to researchers at the University of Maryland, alternately tensing the toes on each foot then releasing them can help distract the mind from negative thoughts and draw tension away from the rest of your body, enabling you to relax more easily.
—Georgia Day, Glamour, 25 Dec. 2023
Servers tensed and hustled as Onwuachi shouted directions and called for extra hands.
—Hannah Goldfield, The New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2023
Medicine ball fight The final ab-conditioning exercise is a bit of a curveball—or medicine ball, to be exact—and involves simply throwing themselves onto medicine balls, tensing the core as much as possible prior to impact.
—Philip Ellis, Men's Health, 13 Aug. 2023
Altruism is a daily practice, a muscle waiting to be tensed and strengthened.
—Lori Keong, ELLE Decor, 12 Apr. 2023
Christy Piña, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Mar. 2024
In the meantime, the coach is left as something of a lame duck slipping into the past tense to discuss what is still an ongoing situation.
—Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2024
Amazon, however, said the story is inaccurate—in the present tense, at least.
—Chris Morris, Fortune, 22 Feb. 2024
When most top athletes retire, the discussion is in the past tense, an assessment of accomplishments and legacies.
—John Branch, New York Times, 19 Jan. 2024
That’s perhaps why its founder doesn’t like talking about the Cube in the past tense.
—Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 14 Jan. 2024
Goldman’s Launch With GS website was quietly updated in recent weeks to describe the initiative in the past tense and say that the bank deployed $1 billion to meet its goal.
—Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 11 Jan. 2024
Anyone can learn how to say the months and days of the week in another language, but learning the intricacies of tenses and grammar draws a very real line in the sand between hobby and life-long commitment.
—Olivia Hart, Vogue, 29 Aug. 2023
Andre Braugher was spectacular, and having to refer to the actor, who died Monday at 61, in the past tense is gutting.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tense.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Adjective
borrowed from Latin tensus, from past participle of tendere "to extend outward, stretch, spread out" — more at tender entry 3
Verb
derivative of tense entry 1
Noun
Middle English tens, borrowed from Anglo-French tens, temps "time, moment, season, tense," going back to Latin tempus "period of time, season, tense" — more at tempo
Adjective
1668, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
1676, in the meaning defined at transitive sense
Noun
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing tense
Articles Related to tense
Dictionary Entries Near tense
Cite this Entry
“Tense.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tense. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
tense
1 of 3 nountense
2 of 3 adjectivetense
3 of 3 verbNoun
Middle English tens "time, tense," from early French tens (same meaning), from Latin tempus "time" — related to temporary
Adjective
from Latin tensus "stretched tight," from tendere "to stretch" — related to tender entry 2
Medical Definition
tense
2 of 2 verb
More from Merriam-Webster on tense
Nglish: Translation of tense for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of tense for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about tense
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