tense

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• tĕns
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• /tɛns/
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -ɛns
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• CMU ARPABET: T EH1 N S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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Borrowed from Latin tēnsus, one form of the past participle of tendō (“stretch”).

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

167 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Afrikaans: gespanne — showing stress or strain
• Afrikaans: styf — showing stress or strain
• Arabic: مُتَوَتِّر (mutawattir) — showing stress or strain
• Bulgarian: напрегнат (napregnat) — showing stress or strain
• Catalan: tens — showing stress or strain
• Chinese Mandarin: 緊 /紧 (jǐn) — showing stress or strain
• Chinese Mandarin: 緊張 /紧张 (jǐnzhāng) — showing stress or strain
• Czech: napjatý — showing stress or strain
• Dutch: gespannen — showing stress or strain
• Dutch: strak — showing stress or strain
• Esperanto: streĉa — showing stress or strain
• Esperanto: streĉita — showing stress or strain
• Estonian: pingne — showing stress or strain
• Estonian: pinev — showing stress or strain
• Finnish: kireä — showing stress or strain
• Finnish: jännittynyt — showing stress or strain
• Finnish: hermostunut — showing stress or strain
• French: tendu — showing stress or strain
• German: gespannt — showing stress or strain
• German: angespannt — showing stress or strain
• German: verkrampft — showing stress or strain
• Greek: τεταμένος (tetaménos) — showing stress or strain
• Hebrew: מָתוּחַ (matúakh) — showing stress or strain
• Hungarian: feszült — showing stress or strain
• Icelandic: upptrekktur — showing stress or strain
• Icelandic: órólegur — showing stress or strain
• Japanese: 緊張した (kinchō shita) — showing stress or strain
• Macedonian: напнат (napnat) — showing stress or strain
• Māori: āmaimai — showing stress or strain
• Plautdietsch: stiew — showing stress or strain
• Portuguese: tenso — showing stress or strain
• Romanian: încordat — showing stress or strain
• Russian: напряжённый (naprjažónnyj) — showing stress or strain
• Spanish: tenso — showing stress or strain
• Swedish: spänd — showing stress or strain
• Turkish: gergin — showing stress or strain
• Ukrainian: напружений (napruženyj) — showing stress or strain
• Bulgarian: опънат (opǎnat) — pulled taut
• Bulgarian: обтегнат (obtegnat) — pulled taut
• Estonian: pinguletõmmatud — pulled taut
• Finnish: kireä — pulled taut
• Finnish: jännitetty — pulled taut
• German: gespannt — pulled taut
• German: straff — pulled taut
• Greek: τεντωμένος (tentoménos) — pulled taut
• Portuguese: estendido — pulled taut
• Russian: туго́й (tugój) — pulled taut
• Russian: натя́нутый (natjánutyj) — pulled taut
• Spanish: tenso — pulled taut
• Spanish: tiesto — pulled taut
• Swedish: spänd — pulled taut
• Turkish: gergin — pulled taut
• Ottoman Turkish: كركین (gergin) — pulled taut
• Ukrainian: тугий (tuhyj) — pulled taut
• Ukrainian: натя́гнутий (natjáhnutyj) — pulled taut
• Russian: напряжённый (naprjažónnyj) — produced with relative constriction of the vocal tract
• Afrikaans: tyd — verb forms distinguishing time
• Afrikaans: tempus — verb forms distinguishing time
• Albanian: kohë — verb forms distinguishing time
• Arabic: صِيغَة (ṣīḡa) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Arabic: صِيغَةُ الْفِعْل (ṣīḡatu l-fiʕl) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Arabic: زَمَن (zaman) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Armenian: ժամանակ (žamanak) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Azerbaijani: zaman — verb forms distinguishing time
• Belarusian: час (čas) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Bulgarian: вре́ме (vréme) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Catalan: temps — verb forms distinguishing time
• Chinese Mandarin: 時態 /时态 (shítài) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Chinese Mandarin: 時制 /时制 (shízhì) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Chuvash: вӑхӑт (văh̬ăt) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Czech: čas — verb forms distinguishing time
• Czech: slovesný čas — verb forms distinguishing time
• Danish: tempus — verb forms distinguishing time
• Dutch: tijd — verb forms distinguishing time
• Dutch: tempus — verb forms distinguishing time
• Estonian: ajavorm — verb forms distinguishing time
• Estonian: aeg — verb forms distinguishing time
• Estonian: tempus — verb forms distinguishing time
• Faroese: tíð — verb forms distinguishing time
• Finnish: aikaluokka — verb forms distinguishing time
• Finnish: aikamuoto — verb forms distinguishing time
• Finnish: tempus — verb forms distinguishing time
• French: temps — verb forms distinguishing time
• French: temps verbal — verb forms distinguishing time
• Georgian: დრო (dro) — verb forms distinguishing time
• German: Zeit — verb forms distinguishing time
• German: Tempus — verb forms distinguishing time
• Greek: χρόνος (chrónos) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Ancient Greek: χρόνος (khrónos) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Hebrew: זְמַן (z'man) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Hindi: काल (kāl) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Hungarian: igeidő — verb forms distinguishing time
• Icelandic: tíð — verb forms distinguishing time
• Irish: aimsir — verb forms distinguishing time
• Isoko: ụkị — verb forms distinguishing time
• Italian: tempo — verb forms distinguishing time
• Japanese: 時制 (jisei) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Kazakh: шақ (şaq) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Korean: 시제 (sije) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Kyrgyz: чак (cak) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Latin: tempus — verb forms distinguishing time
• Latvian: laiks — verb forms distinguishing time
• Lithuanian: laikas — verb forms distinguishing time
• Macedonian: време (vreme) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Malayalam: കാലം (kālaṁ) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Māori: wā — verb forms distinguishing time
• Māori: wātū — verb forms distinguishing time
• Māori: wāheke — verb forms distinguishing time
• Māori: wāmua — verb forms distinguishing time
• Middle English: tens — verb forms distinguishing time
• Norman: temps du vèrbe — verb forms distinguishing time
• Norwegian Bokmål: tempus — verb forms distinguishing time
• Persian: زمان (zamân) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Polish: czas — verb forms distinguishing time
• Portuguese: tempo — verb forms distinguishing time
• Romanian: timp — verb forms distinguishing time
• Russian: вре́мя (vrémja) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Serbo-Croatian: време — verb forms distinguishing time
• Serbo-Croatian: вријеме — verb forms distinguishing time
• Serbo-Croatian: vreme — verb forms distinguishing time
• Serbo-Croatian: vrijeme — verb forms distinguishing time
• Slovak: čas — verb forms distinguishing time
• Slovene: čas — verb forms distinguishing time
• Spanish: tiempo — verb forms distinguishing time
• Spanish: tiempo gramatical — verb forms distinguishing time
• Swahili: wakati — verb forms distinguishing time
• Swedish: tempus — verb forms distinguishing time
• Tagalog: panahunan — verb forms distinguishing time
• Tajik: замон (zamon) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Tamil: காலம் (kālam) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Telugu: కాలము (kālamu) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Thai: กาล (gaan) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Tibetan: དུས་གསུམ (dus gsum) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Turkish: zaman — verb forms distinguishing time
• Udmurt: дыр (dyr) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Ukrainian: час (čas) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Uyghur: زامان (zaman) — verb forms distinguishing time
• Uzbek: zamon — verb forms distinguishing time
• Vietnamese: thì — verb forms distinguishing time
• Welsh: amser — verb forms distinguishing time
• Bulgarian: опъвам (opǎvam) — make tense
• Bulgarian: напрягам (naprjagam) — make tense
• Catalan: tesar — make tense
• Czech: napnout — make tense
• Dutch: spannen — make tense
• Dutch: opspannen — make tense
• Estonian: pinguldama — make tense
• Estonian: pingulduma — make tense
• Finnish: jännittää — make tense
• French: tendre — make tense
• German: spannen — make tense
• Polish: naprężać — make tense
• Polish: naprężyć — make tense
• Portuguese: tensionar — make tense
• Spanish: tensar — make tense
• Ukrainian: напру́жувати (naprúžuvaty) — make tense
• Ukrainian: напру́жити (naprúžyty) — make tense
• Bulgarian: напрягам се (naprjagam se) — become tense
• Finnish: jännittyä — become tense
• French: se tendre — become tense
• German: sich spannen — become tense
• German: sich anspannen — become tense
• Polish: naprężać się — become tense
• Polish: naprężyć się — become tense
• Spanish: tensarse — become tense
• Ukrainian: напру́жуватися (naprúžuvatysja) — become tense
• Ukrainian: напру́житися (naprúžytysja) — become tense