Kilo Lingo

/tens/

Line drawing of tense
Coloured illustration of tense
#2809 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

Nervous and unable to relax, or stretched tight.

Word origin

From Latin tensus, meaning stretched, from the verb tendere, to stretch.

Origin
Latin
Root
tensus
English cognates
tension, extend

Examples

.

"Tense" means nervous and not able to relax.

.

A tense mood is one where everyone feels worried.

.

Here "tense" means the muscles are tight and hard.

Used in

Grammar articles

(33)

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

This word is part of lesson 57.