English Explanatory Dictionary

tense

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists.
  2. An inflected form of a verb that indicates tense.
  3. A grammatical aspect.
  4. A verb form or construction indicating a combination of tense, aspect, and mood.
verb
  1. To apply a tense to.
adj
  1. Showing signs of stress or strain; not relaxed.
  2. Characterized by strain (on the nerves, emotions, etc). (Compare charged.)
  3. Pulled taut, without any slack.
  4. Produced with relative constriction of the vocal tract.
verb
  1. To make tense.
  2. To become tense.

Pronunciation

tĕns /tɛns/ en-us-tense.ogg

Word forms

tense tenses tensing tensed tenser tensest

Etymology

From Middle English tens, from Old French tens (modern French temps), from Latin tempus. Doublet of tempo and tempus.

Synonyms

stressed unrelaxed taut

Related words

See: Category:en:Tenses tend tension tent intense

Derived words

absolute tense aorist tense compound tense conditional tense continuous tense future tense hodiernal tense imperfect tense past historic tense past imperfect tense past tense perfect tense pluperfect tense present tense preterite tense primary tense progressive tense relative tense secondary tense simple tense supine tense tensal hypertense tense vowel tense up
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