tense
adjective/tens/
/tens/
- (of a person) nervous or worried, and unable to relax
- He's a very tense person.
- She sounded tense and angry.
Extra ExamplesTopics Feelingsc1- I was feeling a little tense and restless.
- There's no point in getting tense about the situation.
- Try to relax. Are you always this tense?
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- feel
- look
- …
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- about
- (of a situation, an event, a period of time, etc.) in which people have strong feelings such as worry, anger, etc. that often cannot be expressed openly
- I spent a tense few weeks waiting for the results of the tests.
- The atmosphere in the meeting was getting more and more tense.
Extra Examples- Relations between the two leaders are visibly tense.
- The situation grew increasingly tense.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- feel
- look
- …
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- about
- (of a muscle or other part of the body) tight rather than relaxed
- A massage will relax those tense muscles.
- (of wire, etc.) stretched tightly synonym taut
- (phonetics) (of a speech sound) produced with the muscles of the speech organs stretched tight opposite lax
Word Originadjective late 17th cent.: from Latin tensus ‘stretched’, from the verb tendere.
Check pronunciation:
tense