Tense1. (n.) One of the forms which a verb takes by inflection or by adding auxiliary words, so as to indicate the time of the action or event signified; the modification which verbs undergo for the indication of time.
2. (a.) Stretched tightly; strained to stiffness; rigid; not lax; as, a tense fiber.
Thesaurus Entries
accented, agitated, all-overish, alveolar, antsy, anxious, anxioused up, aorist, apical, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, apprehensive, articulated, assimilated, back, barytone, bilabial, bothered, brace, broad, cacuminal, central, cerebral, checked, chill, chilly, chronology, close, cold, concerned, consonant, consonantal, continuant, continue, continuity, cool, dental, disaccordant, disquieted, disquieting, dissimilated, distressed, distressing, disturbed, disturbing, dorsal, drag out, dragged out, draw, draw out, drawn, drawn out, duration, durative, duree, edgy, elongate, elongated, extend, extended, fearful, fidgety, firm, flat, fluttery, foreboding, fraught, front, frosty, fussy, future, future perfect, glide, glossal, glottal, guttural, hard, haul, heave, heavy, high, high-strung, historical present, icy, imperfect, in a pucker, in a stew, in suspense, incompatible, inhospitable, inimical, intense, intonated, jittery, jumpy, keyed up, keyed-up, labial, labiodental, labiovelar, lastingness, lateral, lax, lengthen, lengthen out, lengthened, let out, light, lingual, liquid, low, mid, misgiving, monophthongal, muted, narrow, nasal, nasalized, nerve-racking, nervous, nervy, occlusive, on edge, on tenterhooks, on tiptoe, open, overanxious, overapprehensive, overexert, overextend, overstrain, overtax, overwrought, oxytone, palatal, palatalized, past, past perfect, perfect, period, perturbed, pharyngeal, pharyngealized, phonemic, phonetic, phonic, pitch, pitched, pluperfect, point tense, pokerlike, posttonic, present, present perfect, press, preterit, produce, progressive tense, prolong, prolongate, prolongated, prolonged, protract, protracted, psychological time, pull, pulled, queasy, quivering, rack, ramrodlike, reinforce, renitent, restive, restless, retroflex, rigid, rigidify, rodlike, rounded, rusty, screw up, semivowel, shore up, soft, solicitous, sonant, space, space-time, spin out, spun out, starched, starchy, stiff, stiff as buckram, stiffen, stopped, straggling, strain, strain every nerve, strained, strengthen, stress, stressed, stressful, stretch, stretch out, stretched, stretched out, stretched tight, string out, strong, strung out, surd, suspenseful, sweat blood, syllabic, taut, tauten, tax, tension, term, the future, the past, the present, thick, throaty, tide, tight, tighten, time, timebinding, tonal, tonic, trice up, troubled, tug, twangy, unaccented, unamiable, unamicable, uncordial, under a strain, uneasy, unfriendly, ungenial, unharmonious, unquiet, unrelaxed, unrestful, unrounded, unsettled, unsociable, unstressed