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| tense [ tenss ] |
adjective (comparative tens·er, superlative tens·est) |
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| Definition: |
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1. worried and nervous: affected by anxious feelings or mental strain, so that it is impossible to behave in a natural relaxed way
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2. restrained and unnatural: causing feelings of anxiety, nervousness, and uncertainty, so that natural relaxed talk or behavior is impossible
  a tense wait
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3. tight and stiff: stretched or held tight and stiff
tense muscles
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4. phonetics pronounced with taut muscles: describes a speech sound that is pronounced with muscular effort, is relatively long in duration, and is accurate in articulation
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transitive and intransitive verb (past and past participle tensed, present participle tens·ing, 3rd person present singular tens·es) |
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| Definition: |
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become or make tense: to become tense, or make something such as a muscle or part of the body become tense
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| [Late 17th century. < Latin tensus "stretched," past participle of tendere "stretch"] |
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| tense·ly adverb |
| tense·ness noun |
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