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1 tense
tense [tens]1. nountemps m2. adjectivetendu ; [time, period] de tension• to become tense [person] se crisper• they were tense with anticipation ils attendaient, crispés[+ muscles] contracter[muscles, person, animal] se contracter* * *[tens] 1.noun Linguistics temps m2. 3.the present tense — le présent (of de)
transitive verb tendre [muscle]; raidir [body]Phrasal Verbs:- tense up -
2 tense
tense [tens]∎ the audience was tense with excitement le public contenait avec peine son enthousiasme;∎ her voice was tense with emotion elle avait la voix étranglée par l'émotion;∎ we spent several tense hours waiting for news nous avons passé plusieurs heures à attendre des nouvelles dans un état de tension nerveuse;∎ the atmosphere was very tense l'atmosphère était très tendue;∎ things are getting tense in the war zone la situation devient tendue dans la zone de combat(b) (muscles, rope, spring) tendu;∎ to become tense se tendre(muscle) tendre, bander;∎ to tense oneself se raidir3 nounGrammar temps m➲ tense up∎ don't tense up détends-toi, décontracte-toi(person) rendre nerveux;∎ she's all tensed up elle est vraiment tendue -
3 tense
B adj1 ( strained) [atmosphere, conversation, person, relationship, silence] tendu ; [moment, hours] de tension ; I get tense easily un rien me rend nerveux ; it makes me tense ça me rend nerveux ; tense with fear paralysé par la peur ;2 ( exciting) tendu ;3 ( taut) tendu.D vi se raidir.■ tense up:▶ -
4 tense
[tens] I noun(a form of a verb that shows the time of its action in relation to the time of speaking: a verb in the past/future/present tense.) tempsII 1. adjective1) (strained; nervous: The crowd was tense with excitement; a tense situation.) crispé, tendu2) (tight; tightly stretched.) tendu2. verb(to make or become tense: He tensed his muscles.) (se) tendre- tensely- tenseness - tension -
5 tense up
1) ( stiffen) [muscle] se tendre; [body] se raidir2) ( become nervous) [person] se crisper -
6 past tense
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7 to become tense
Pol., Dipl. se tendre ou se crisper [relations internationales]English-French dictionary of law, politics, economics & finance > to become tense
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8 past tense
noun Linguistics passé m -
9 ease up
[tense person, storm, traffic] se calmer; [worker, team] relâcher ses efforts; [authorities] relâcher la disciplineto ease up on somebody/on something — être moins sévère envers quelqu'un/pour quelque chose
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10 Usage note : for
for my sister= pour ma sœurfor the garden= pour le jardinfor me= pour moiFor particular usages see the entry for.When for is used as a preposition indicating purpose followed by a verb it is translated by pour + infinitive:for cleaning windows= pour nettoyer les vitresWhen for is used in the construction to be + adjective + for + pronoun + infinitive the translation in French is être + indirect pronoun + adjective + de + infinitive:it’s impossible for me to stay= il m’est impossible de resterit was hard for him to understand that…= il lui était difficile de comprendre que…it will be difficult for her to accept the changes= il lui sera difficile d’accepter les changementsFor the construction to be waiting for sb to do see the entry wait.For particular usages see the entry for.In time expressionsfor is used in English after a verb in the progressive present perfect tense to express the time period of something that started in the past and is still going on. To express this French uses a verb in the present tense + depuis:I have been waiting for three hours (and I am still waiting)= j’attends depuis trois heureswe’ve been together for two years (and we’re still together)= nous sommes ensemble depuis deux ansWhen for is used in English after a verb in the past perfect tense, French uses the imperfect + depuis:I had been waiting for two hours (and was still waiting)= j’attendais depuis deux heuresfor is used in English negative sentences with the present perfect tense to express the time that has elapsed since something has happened. To express this, French uses the same tense as English (the perfect) + depuis:I haven’t seen him for ten years (and I still haven’t seen him)= je ne l’ai pas vu depuis dix ansIn spoken French, there is another way of expressing this: ça fait or il y a dix ans que je ne l’ai pas vu.When for is used in English in negative sentences after a verb in the past perfect tense, French uses the past perfect + depuis:I hadn’t seen him for ten years= je ne l’avais pas vu depuis dix ans, or (in spoken French) ça faisait or il y avait dix ans que je ne l’avais pas vufor is used in English after the preterite to express the time period of something that happened in the past and is no longer going on. Here French uses the present perfect + pendant:last Sunday I gardened for two hours= dimanche dernier, j’ai jardiné pendant deux heuresfor is used in English after the present progressive tense or the future tense to express an anticipated time period in the future. Here French uses the present or the future tense + pour:I’m going to Rome for six weeks= je vais à Rome pour six semainesI will go to Rome for six weeks= j’irai à Rome pour six semainesNote, however, that when the verb to be is used in the future with for to emphasize the period of time, French uses the future + pendant:I will be in Rome for six weeks= je serai à Rome pendant six semaineshe will be away for three days= il sera absent pendant trois joursFor particular usages see A13, 14, 15 and 16 in the entry for.for is often used in English to form a structure with nouns, adjectives and verbs (weakness for, eager for, apply for, fend for etc.). For translations, consult the appropriate noun, adjective or verb entry (weakness, eager, apply, fend etc.). -
11 past
past [pα:st]1. nouna. passé m• in the past, many of these babies would have died autrefois, beaucoup de ces bébés seraient morts• new vaccines could make these illnesses a thing of the past de nouveaux vaccins pourraient faire disparaître ces maladiesb. ( = tense) passé m2. adjectivea. passé3. prepositionb. ( = beyond in space) au delà de• I think we've gone past it ( = missed it) je pense que nous l'avons dépasséc. ( = in front of) devantd. ( = beyond limits of) I'm past caring j'ai cessé de m'en faire4. adverb━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ devant• to go or walk past passer5. compounds• to be a past master at doing sth avoir l'art de faire qch ► past participle noun participe m passé* * *Note: For a full set of translations for past used in clocktime consult the Usage Note[pɑːst], US [pæst] 1.1) gen passé m2) Linguistics (also past tense) passé m2.1) ( preceding) dernier/-ière2) ( former) [times, achievements, problems, experience] passé; [president, incumbent] ancien/-ienne; [government] précédentin times past — autrefois, jadis
3) ( finished)3.1) ( moving)to walk ou go past somebody/something — passer devant quelqu'un/quelque chose
2) ( in time)3) ( beyond in position) après4) ( beyond a certain level)the temperature soared past 40°C — la température est montée brutalement à plus de 40°C
5) ( beyond scope of)4.1) ( onwards)to go ou walk past — passer
2) ( ago)••to be past it — (colloq) avoir passé l'âge
to be past its best — [food] être un peu avancé; [wine] être un peu éventé
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12 will
will [wɪl]1. modal verba. (future)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► In the following examples the main verb is future, the other is present: in French both verbs must be in the future tense.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• what will he do when he finds out? qu'est-ce qu'il fera lorsqu'il s'en apercevra ?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• will he come too? -- yes he will est-ce qu'il viendra aussi ? -- oui• I'll go with you -- oh no you won't! je vais vous accompagner -- non, certainement pas !━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When won't is used in question tags, eg won't it, won't you the translation is often n'est-ce pas.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• you will come to see us, won't you? vous viendrez nous voir, n'est-ce pas ?• that'll be okay, won't it? ça ira, n'est-ce pas ?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When future meaning is made clear by words like tomorrow, or next week, the present tense can also be used in French.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• he'll be here tomorrow il arrive or il arrivera demain• I'll phone you tonight je t'appelle or je t'appellerai ce soir► will have + past participle━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When will indicates that something commonly happens, the present is used in French.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• the car will do 150km/h cette voiture fait du 150 km/h• thieves will often keep a stolen picture for years les voleurs gardent souvent un tableau volé pendant des annéesd. (requests, orders)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The present tense of vouloir is often used.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• will you be quiet! veux-tu (bien) te taire !• will you please sit down! voulez-vous vous asseoir, s'il vous plaît !• will you help me? -- yes I will tu veux m'aider ? -- oui, je veux bien• will you promise to be careful? tu me promets de faire attention ?► won't ( = refuse(s) to)• will you promise? -- no I won't tu me le promets ? -- none. (invitations, offers) will you have a cup of coffee? voulez-vous prendre un café ?• will you join us for a drink? voulez-vous prendre un verre avec nous ?• won't you come with us? vous ne voulez pas venir (avec nous) ?f. ( = must) that will be the taxi ça doit être le taxipreterite, past participlea. ( = urge by willpower) he was willing her to look at him il l'adjurait intérieurement de le regarderb. ( = bequeath) to will sth to sb léguer qch à qn3. nouna. ( = determination) volonté f• to do sth against sb's will faire qch contre la volonté de qn (PROV) where there's a will there's a way(PROV) vouloir c'est pouvoir► at willb. ( = document) testament m• the last will and testament of... les dernières volontés de...* * *I 1. [wɪl, əl]modal auxiliary1) ( to express the future)she'll help you — elle t'aidera; ( in the near future) elle va t'aider
2) (expressing consent, willingness)‘will you help me?’ - ‘yes, I will’ — ‘est-ce que tu m'aideras?’ - ‘oui, bien sûr’
‘have a chocolate’ - ‘thank you, I will’ — ‘prends un chocolat’ - ‘volontiers, merci’
do what ou as you will — fais ce que tu veux
will do! — (colloq) d'accord!
3) (in commands, requests)will you pass the salt, please? — est-ce que tu peux me passer le sel, s'il te plaît?
‘I can give the speech’ - ‘you will not!’ — ‘je peux faire le discours’ - ‘pas question!’
‘I'll do it’ - ‘no you won't’ — ‘je vais le faire’ - ‘il n'en est pas question’
4) (in offers, invitations)you'll have another cake, won't you? — vous prendrez bien un autre gâteau?
any teacher will tell you that... — n'importe quel professeur te dira que...
2.these things will happen — ce sont des choses qui arrivent; ( in exasperation)
transitive verb1) ( urge)2) (wish, desire) vouloir3) Law léguer3. II 1. [wɪl]to have a strong/weak will — avoir beaucoup/peu de volonté
2) Law testament m2.at will adverbial phrase [select, take] à volonté••where there's a will there's a way — Prov quand on veut on peut Prov
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13 bid
[bid] 1. verb1) (- past tense, past participle bid - to offer (an amount of money) at an auction: John bid ($1,000) for the painting.) faire une enchère (de)2) ((with for) - past tense, past participle bid - to state a price (for a contract): My firm is bidding for the contract for the new road.) faire une offre (pour)3) (- past tense bade [bæd], past participle bidden - to tell (someone) to (do something): He bade me enter.) enjoindre (de)4) (- past tense bade [bæd], past participle bidden - to express a greeting etc (to someone): He bade me farewell.) dire2. noun1) (an offer of a price: a bid of $20.) offre2) (an attempt (to obtain): a bid for freedom.) tentative (pour obtenir)•- bidder- bidding - biddable -
14 imperfect
imperfect [ɪmˈpɜ:fɪkt]1. adjectivea. imparfait ; [goods, copy] défectueuxb. [tense] de l'imparfait2. noun* * *[ɪm'pɜːfɪkt] 1.noun Linguistics imparfait m2.adjective ( incomplete) incomplet/-ète; ( defective) [goods] défectueux/-euse; [logic] imparfait; Linguistics -
15 shall
shall [∫æl]• I'll buy three, shall I? je vais en acheter trois, d'accord ?• let's go in, shall we? entrons, voulez-vous ?• shall we ask him to come with us? si on lui demandait de venir avec nous ?* * *[ʃæl, ʃəl]Note: When shall is used to form the future tense in English, the same rules apply as for will. You will find a note on this and on question tags and short answers near the entry will Imodal auxiliary1) ( in future tense)I shall ou I'll see you tomorrow — je vous verrai demain
we shall not ou shan't have a reply before Friday — nous n'aurons pas de réponse avant vendredi
2) ( in suggestions)let's buy some peaches, shall we? — et si on achetait des pêches?
3) sout (in commands, contracts etc)the sum shall be paid on signature of the contract — le montant devra être versé à la signature du contrat
thou shalt not steal — Bible tu ne voleras point
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16 be
present tense am [ʌm], are [a:], is [ɪz]; past tense was [woz], were [w†:]; present participle 'being; past participle been [bi:n, (·meriцan) bɪn]; subjunctive were [w†:]; short forms I'm [aim] (I am), you're [ju†] (you are), he's [hi:z] (he is), she's [ʃi:z] (she is), it's [ɪ ] (it is), we're [wi†] (we are), they're [Ɵe†] (they are); negative short forms isn't (is not), aren't [a:nt] (are not), wasn't (was not), weren't [w†:nt] (were not)1) (used with a present participle to form the progressive or continuous tenses: I'm reading; I am being followed; What were you saying?.) être2) (used with a present participle to form a type of future tense: I'm going to London.)3) (used with a past participle to form the passive voice: He was shot.) être4) (used with an infinitive to express several ideas, eg necessity (When am I to leave?), purpose (The letter is to tell us he's coming), a possible future happening (If he were to lose, I'd win) etc.) devoir; aller5) (used in giving or asking for information about something or someone: I am Mr Smith; Is he alive?; She wants to be an actress; The money will be ours; They are being silly.) être•- being- the be-all and end-all -
17 past
1. adjective1) (just finished: the past year.) passé2) (over, finished or ended, of an earlier time than the present: The time for discussion is past.) écoulé3) ((of the tense of a verb) indicating action in the past: In `He did it', the verb is in the past tense.) passé2. preposition1) (up to and beyond; by: He ran past me.) devant2) (after: It's past six o'clock.) passé3. adverb(up to and beyond (a particular place, person etc): The soldiers marched past.) au delà de, plus loin que4. noun1) (a person's earlier life or career, especially if secret or not respectable: He never spoke about his past.) passé2) (the past tense: a verb in the past.) passé•- the past -
18 shear
[ʃiə]past tense - sheared; verb1) (to clip or cut wool from (a sheep).) tondre2) ((past tense shorn: often with off) to cut (hair) off: All her curls have been shorn off.) couper3) ((past tense shorn: especially with of) to cut hair from (someone): He has been shorn (of all his curls).) couper4) (to cut or (cause to) break: A piece of the steel girder sheared off.) (se) cisailler•- shears -
19 Usage note : be
I am tired= je suis fatiguéCaroline is French= Caroline est françaisethe children are in the garden= les enfants sont dans le jardinIt functions in very much the same way as to be does in English and it is safe to assume it will work as a translation in the great majority of cases.Note, however, that when you are specifying a person’s profession or trade, a/an is not translated:she’s a doctor= elle est médecinClaudie is still a student= Claudie est toujours étudianteThis is true of any noun used in apposition when the subject is a person:he’s a widower= il est veufButLyons is a beautiful city= Lyon est une belle villeFor more information or expressions involving professions and trades consult the usage note Shops, Trades and Professions.For the conjugation of the verb être see the French verb tables.Grammatical functionsThe passiveêtre is used to form the passive in French just as to be is used in English. Note, however, that the past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject:the rabbit was killed by a fox= le lapin a été tué par un renardthe window had been broken= la fenêtre avait été casséetheir books will be sold= leurs livres seront vendusour doors have been repainted red= nos portes ont été repeintes en rougeIn spoken language, French native speakers find the passive cumbersome and will avoid it where possible by using the impersonal on where a person or people are clearly involved : on a repeint nos portes en rouge.Progressive tensesIn French the idea of something happening over a period of time cannot be expressed using the verb être in the way that to be is used as an auxiliary verb in English.The presentFrench uses simply the present tense where English uses the progressive form with to be:I am working= je travailleBen is reading a book= Ben lit un livreIn order to accentuate duration être en train de is used: je suis en train de travailler ; Ben est en train de lire un livre.The futureFrench also uses the present tense where English uses the progressive form with to be:we are going to London tomorrow= nous allons à Londres demainI’m (just) coming!= j’arrive!I’m (just) going!= j’y vais!The pastTo express the distinction between she read a newspaper and she was reading a newspaper French uses the perfect and the imperfect tenses: elle a lu un journal/elle lisait un journal:he wrote to his mother= il a écrit à sa mèrehe was writing to his mother= il écrivait à sa mèreHowever, in order to accentuate the notion of describing an activity which went on over a period of time, the phrase être en train de (= to be in the process of) is often used:‘what was he doing when you arrived?’‘he was cooking the dinner’= ‘qu’est-ce qu’il faisait quand tu es arrivé?’ ‘il était en train de préparer le dîner’she was just finishing her essay when …= elle était juste en train de finir sa dissertation quand …The compound pastCompound past tenses in the progressive form in English are generally translated by the imperfect in French:I’ve been looking for you= je te cherchaisFor progressive forms + for and since (I’ve been waiting for an hour, I had been waiting for an hour, I’ve been waiting since Monday etc.) see the entries for and since.ObligationWhen to be is used as an auxiliary verb with another verb in the infinitive ( to be to do) expressing obligation, a fixed arrangement or destiny, devoir is used:she’s to do it at once= elle doit le faire tout de suitewhat am I to do?= qu’est-ce que je dois faire?he was to arrive last Monday= il devait arriver lundi derniershe was never to see him again= elle ne devait plus le revoir.In tag questionsFrench has no direct equivalent of tag questions like isn’t he? or wasn’t it? There is a general tag question n’est-ce pas? (literally isn’t it so?) which will work in many cases:their house is lovely, isn’t it?= leur maison est très belle, n’est-ce pas?he’s a doctor, isn’t he?= il est médecin, n’est-ce pas?it was a very good meal, wasn’t it?= c’était un très bon repas, n’est-ce pas?However, n’est-ce pas can very rarely be used for positive tag questions and some other way will be found to express the extra meaning contained in the tag: par hasard ( by any chance) can be very useful as a translation:‘I can’t find my glasses’ ‘they’re not in the kitchen, are they?’= ‘je ne trouve pas mes lunettes’ ‘elles ne sont pas dans la cuisine, par hasard?’you haven’t seen Gaby, have you?= tu n’as pas vu Gaby, par hasard?In cases where an opinion is being sought, si? meaning more or less or is it? or was it? etc. can be useful:it’s not broken, is it?= ce n’est pas cassé, si?he wasn’t serious, was he?= il n’était pas sérieux, si?In many other cases the tag question is simply not translated at all and the speaker’s intonation will convey the implied question.In short answersAgain, there is no direct equivalent for short answers like yes I am, no he’s not etc. Where the answer yes is given to contradict a negative question or statement, the most useful translation is si:‘you’re not going out tonight’ ‘yes I am’= ‘tu ne sors pas ce soir’ ‘si’In reply to a standard enquiry the tag will not be translated:‘are you a doctor?’ ‘yes I am’= ‘êtes-vous médecin?’ ‘oui’‘was it raining?’ ‘yes it was’= ‘est-ce qu’il pleuvait?’ ‘oui’ProbabilityFor expressions of probability and supposition ( if I were you etc.) see the entry be.Other functionsExpressing sensations and feelingsIn expressing physical and mental sensations, the verb used in French is avoir:to be cold= avoir froidto be hot= avoir chaudI’m cold= j’ai froidto be thirsty= avoir soifto be hungry= avoir faimto be ashamed= avoir hontemy hands are cold= j’ai froid aux mainsIf, however, you are in doubt as to which verb to use in such expressions, you should consult the entry for the appropriate adjective.Discussing health and how people areIn expressions of health and polite enquiries about how people are, aller is used:how are you?= comment allez-vous?( more informally) comment vas-tu?( very informally as a greeting) ça va?are you well?= vous allez bien?how is your daughter?= comment va votre fille?my father is better today= mon père va mieux aujourd’huiDiscussing weather and temperatureIn expressions of weather and temperature faire is generally used:it’s cold= il fait froidit’s windy= il fait du ventIf in doubt, consult the appropriate adjective entry.Visiting somewhereWhen to be is used in the present perfect tense to mean go, visit etc., French will generally use the verbs venir, aller etc. rather than être:I’ve never been to Sweden= je ne suis jamais allé en Suèdehave you been to the Louvre?= est-ce que tu es déjà allé au Louvre?or est-ce que tu as déjà visité le Louvre?Paul has been to see us three times= Paul est venu nous voir trois foisNote too:has the postman been?= est-ce que le facteur est passé?The translation for an expression or idiom containing the verb to be will be found in the dictionary at the entry for another word in the expression: for to be in danger see danger, for it would be best to … see best etc.This dictionary contains usage notes on topics such as the clock, time units, age, weight measurement, days of the week, and shops, trades and professions, many of which include translations of particular uses of to be. -
20 Usage note : might
Although usage shows that may and might are interchangeable in many contexts, might indicates a more remote possibility than may. French generally translates this element of possibility using peut-être with the appropriate verb tense:it might snow= il va peut-être neiger(It is also possible to translate this more formally using il se peut + subjunctive: il se peut qu’il neige). For particular examples see might1 1.It is possible to translate might differently depending on the nature of the context and the speaker’s point of view:he might not come= il risque de ne pas venirimplies that this is not a desirable outcome for the speaker ;he might not come= il pourrait ne pas venir or il se peut qu’il ne vienne pashowever, is neutral in tone. Where there is the idea of a possibility in the past which has not in fact occurred (see might1 2), French uses the past conditional of the verb (which is often pouvoir):it might have been serious (but wasn’t in fact)= ça aurait pu être graveThis is also the case where something which could have taken place did not, thus causing annoyance:you might have said thanks!= tu aurais pu dire merci!(see might1 7).might, as the past tense of may, will automatically occur in instances of reported speech:he said you might be hurt= il a dit que tu serais peut-être blesséFor more examples see the entry might1 and bear in mind the rules for the agreement of tenses.Where there is a choice between may and might in making requests, might is more formal and even rather dated. French uses inversion (je peux = puis-je?) in this context and puis-je me permettre de…? (= might I…?) is extremely formal.Might can be used to polite effect - to soften direct statements: you might imagine that…or to offer advice tactfully: it might be wise to…In both cases, French uses the conditional tense of the verb: on pourrait penser que… ; ce serait peut-être une bonne idée de… The use of well in phrases such as he might well be right etc. implies a greater degree of likelihood.For translations of might well, may well, see B2 in the entry well1.
См. также в других словарях:
Tense — Tense, a. [L. tensus, p. p. of tendere to stretch. See {Tend} to move, and cf. {Toise}.] Stretched tightly; strained to stiffness; rigid; not lax; as, a tense fiber. [1913 Webster] The temples were sunk, her forehead was tense, and a fatal… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
tense — is the location in time of the state or action expressed by a verb. English verbs properly have only two tenses, the present (I stay) and past (I stayed). The future is formed with shall or will (I shall / will stay: see shall and will) or (to… … Modern English usage
Tense — Tense, n. [OF. tens, properly, time, F. temps time, tense. See {Temporal} of time, and cf. {Thing}.] (Gram.) 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… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Tense — may refer to: *Grammatical tense, the inflection of a verb to indicate whether past, present, or future time is intended *Tenseness, a phonological quality frequently associated with vowels and occasionally with consonants *Tense, a state of… … Wikipedia
tense — Ⅰ. tense [1] ► ADJECTIVE 1) stretched tight or rigid. 2) feeling, causing, or showing anxiety and nervousness. ► VERB ▪ make or become tense. DERIVATIVES tensely adverb tenseness noun … English terms dictionary
tense — tense1 [tens] adj. tenser, tensest [L tensus, pp. of tendere, to stretch < IE * tend < base * ten , to stretch > THIN] 1. stretched tight; strained; taut 2. feeling, showing, or causing mental strain; anxious 3. Phonet. articulated with… … English World dictionary
tense — [adj1] tight, stretched close, firm, rigid, stiff, strained, taut; concepts 485,604 Ant. limp, limpid, loose, relaxed, slack tense [adj2] under stress, pressure agitated, anxious, apprehensive, beside oneself*, bundle of nerves*, choked, clutched … New thesaurus
tense — index rigid Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 … Law dictionary
tense — adj 1 *tight, taut Analogous words: strained (see corresponding noun at STRAIN): nervous, unquiet, uneasy, jittery (see IMPATIENT) Antonyms: slack 2 *stiff, rigid, inflexible, stark, wooden Analogous words: tough, tenacious, stout (see STRONG):… … New Dictionary of Synonyms
tense — I UK [tens] / US adjective Word forms tense : adjective tense comparative tenser superlative tensest * 1) a) making you feel nervous and not relaxed, usually because you are worried about what is going to happen a tense situation/atmosphere a… … English dictionary
tense — [[t]te̱ns[/t]] tenses, tensing, tensed, tenser, tensest 1) ADJ GRADED A tense situation or period of time is one that makes people anxious, because they do not know what is going to happen next. This gesture of goodwill did little to improve the… … English dictionary