English
tense
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English tens, from Old French tens (modern French temps), from Latin tempus.

Noun

tense (plural tenses)

  1. (grammar, countable) Any of the forms of a verb which distinguish when an action or state of being occurs or exists.
    The basic tenses in English are present, past and future.
  2. (linguistics, grammar, countable) An inflection form of a verb that indicates tense.
    English only has a past tense and a non-past tense; it has no future tense.
  3. (linguistics, uncountable) The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists.
    Dyirbal verbs are not inflected for tense.
Related terms
  • See: en
Translations Verb

tense (tenses, present participle tensing; simple past and past participle tensed)

  1. (grammar, transitive) To apply a tense to.
    tensing a verb
Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin tēnsus, one form of the past participle of tendō.

Adjective

tense (comparative tenser, superlative tensest)

  1. Showing signs of stress or strain; not relaxed.
    Synonyms: stressed, unrelaxed
    You need to relax, all this overtime and stress is making you tense.
  2. Pulled taut, without any slack.
  3. (linguistics) (of a vowel) Produced with relative constriction of the vocal tract.
Related terms Translations Translations Verb

tense (tenses, present participle tensing; simple past and past participle tensed)

  1. (transitive) To make tense.
  2. (intransitive) To become tense.
Translations Translations

This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
Offline English dictionary