tense meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

tense

noun

/tɛns/

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

Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists.

Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences An inflected form of a verb that indicates tense.

English only has a past tense and a non-past tense; it has no future tense.
In ſo moche that if any verbe be of the thyꝛde coniugation I ſet out all his rotes and tenſes[…]1530 July 18, Iohan Palſgrave, “The Introduction”, in Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe […] , London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 32; reprinted as Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse, Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1972:

Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Proscribed A grammatical aspect.

Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Proscribed A verb form or construction indicating a combination of tense, aspect, and mood.

The "simple present" tense in English can have several meanings.
The Spanish teacher told the student to use the imperfect tense instead of the preterite tense.

Derived terms: 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, tenseless
Related terms: See: Category:en:Tenses

verb

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

Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences To apply a tense to.

adj

Etymology Borrowed from Latin tēnsus, one form of the past participle of tendō (“stretch”).

Showing signs of stress or strain; not relaxed.

You need to relax, all this overtime and stress is making you tense.
"Attention," the tense man called out in Greek. "This is Lieutenant Kazamakis of the Cypriot Provisional Guard. You will immediately surrender all weapons and slowly come down the stairs, hands above your head." No answer.2009 October 21, Richard Steinberg, The 4 Phase Man: A Novel, Bantam, →ISBN:

1 more example

"There's no one in the house," Sahas cut him off quickly. "Actually[,] I have sent them away. I thought that only the two of us should share the special surprise." He gave a tense smile.2018 February 10, Ratna Chandu,, For a Girl in a Star, Sristhi Publishers & Distributors, →ISBN:

Characterized by strain (on the nerves, emotions, etc). (Compare charged.)

Chi stops, but her eyes continue to pierce right through me and into Karima. A tense moment later, she drops her eyes back to the terminal and scans the data once more. The showdown is over, at least for the moment.2022 June 16, Marc B. DeGeorge, A Call to the Sky, MuseMarc Studio LLC, →ISBN:

Pulled taut, without any slack.

Human sciences, Linguistics, Phonetics, Phonology, Sciences Of a vowel Produced with relative constriction of the vocal tract.

Derived terms: hypertense, overtense, tensely, tensen, tenseness, tense vowel, tensible, tensification, tensor, ultratense, untense
Related terms: tend, tension, tent, intense

verb

Etymology Borrowed from Latin tēnsus, one form of the past participle of tendō (“stretch”).

To make tense.

To become tense.

The driver and the man shouted angrily at each other and I tensed, ready for violence. But soon everyone in the tap-tap joined in, capping remarks, joking, telling chicken and goat stories.1983 December 24, Andrea Loewenstein, “"What's Freedom Without Food In Your Stomach?" — A Trip to Haiti”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 23, page 8:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.