TENSE
What does "TENSE" mean?
Stretched tight, or marked by mental, emotional, or physical strain.
Meanings
- Feeling or showing nervous strain; anxious and unable to relax. She grew tense as the verdict was read.
- Stretched tight; taut. The rope went tense as the boat drifted.
- A grammatical form of a verb that indicates the time of the action. English marks the past tense with '-ed' on most verbs. technical
- To make or become tight, rigid, or strained. He tensed his shoulders the moment the door opened.
Did you know?
- The 'stretched-tight' TENSE and the grammar-class TENSE are accidental twins: one descends from Latin 'tendere' (to stretch), the other from 'tempus' (time) - same spelling, completely separate roots.
Word origin
The 'taut/strained' senses come from Latin 'tensus', past participle of 'tendere' (to stretch). The unrelated grammatical noun comes via Old French 'tens' from Latin 'tempus' (time).
Remember it
TENSE = TEN + SE: picture ten strings pulled tight to the SE corner, each one quivering with strain.
A little poem
Wire on the high pole-
one bird lands, the whole line hums
then forgets, goes slack.
haiku
Wordplay
- A teacher walked into a bar to study the past, the present, and the future. It was tense.
What it teaches
A string too slack makes no music and a string too tense will snap; tune yourself between them.
Quick facts
What does TENSE mean?
Stretched tight, or marked by mental, emotional, or physical strain.
Is TENSE a valid word?
Yes — TENSE is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is TENSE?
TENSE has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does TENSE come from?
The 'taut/strained' senses come from Latin 'tensus', past participle of 'tendere' (to stretch). The unrelated grammatical noun comes via Old French 'tens' from Latin 'tempus' (time).
What can TENSE teach us?
A string too slack makes no music and a string too tense will snap; tune yourself between them.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.