←

tense

adjective
🔊/tens/
🔊/tens/
jump to other results
  1. (of a person人) nervous or worried, and unable to relax神经紧张的；担心的；不能松弛的
    • He's a very tense person.他是个神经非常紧张的人。🔊🔊
    • She sounded tense and angry.她的声音听起来又气又急。🔊🔊
    Extra Examples
    • I was feeling a little tense and restless.我感到有点儿紧张不安。
    • There's no point in getting tense about the situation.对形势没必要紧张。
    • Try to relax. Are you always this tense?尽量放轻松。你总是这样紧张吗？
    Topics Feelingsc1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • be
    • feel
    • look
    • …
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    • …
    preposition
    • about
    See full entry
  2. (of a situation, an event, a period of time, etc.形势、事件、时期等) in which people have strong feelings such as worry, anger, etc. that often cannot be expressed openly令人紧张的（或焦虑的、满腹愤懑的等）
    • I spent a tense few weeks waiting for the results of the tests.等候测试结果的这几个星期里我寝食不安。🔊🔊
    • The atmosphere in the meeting was getting more and more tense.会议的气氛越来越紧张。🔊🔊
    Extra Examples
    • Relations between the two leaders are visibly tense.两位领导人的关系明显紧张。
    • The situation grew increasingly tense.形势越来越紧张。
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • be
    • feel
    • look
    • …
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    • …
    preposition
    • about
    See full entry
  3. (of a muscle or other part of the body肌肉或身体部位) tight rather than relaxed绷紧的；不松弛的
    • A massage will relax those tense muscles.按摩会使紧张的肌肉松弛。🔊🔊
  4. (of wire, etc.金属丝等) stretched tightly拉紧的；绷紧的 synonym taut
  5. (phonetics语音学) (of a speech sound语音) produced with the muscles of the speech organs stretched tight 紧的；紧张音的opposite lax
    6. Word Originadjective late 17th cent.: from Latin tensus ‘stretched’, from the verb tendere.

tense

noun
🔊/tens/
🔊/tens/
 (grammar语法)
jump to other results
  1. any of the forms of a verb that may be used to show the time of the action or state expressed by the verb（动词的）时，时态
    • the past/present/future tense过去／现在／将来时态
    Wordfinder
    Extra Examples
    • ‘Have’ is the auxiliary verb used to form perfect tenses.have 是用来构成完成时态的助动词。
    • In the sentence ‘I fed the cat’, ‘fed’ is in the past tense.在句子 I fed the cat 中，fed 是过去时。
    • the present tense marker ‘s’现在时的标志 s
    Topics Languagea1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • future
    • past
    • present
    • …
    verb + tense
    • use
    • form
    tense + noun
    • marker
    preposition
    • in the… tense
    See full entry
    Word Originnoun Middle English (in the general sense ‘time’): from Old French tens, from Latin tempus ‘time’.

tense

verb
🔊/tens/
🔊/tens/
[transitive, intransitive]
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they tense
🔊/tens/
🔊/tens/
he / she / it tenses
🔊/ˈtensɪz/
🔊/ˈtensɪz/
past simple tensed
🔊/tenst/
🔊/tenst/
past participle tensed
🔊/tenst/
🔊/tenst/
-ing form tensing
🔊/ˈtensɪŋ/
🔊/ˈtensɪŋ/
Idioms
jump to other results
  1. if you tense your muscles, or you or your muscles tense, they become tight and stiff, especially because you are not relaxed（使肌肉）拉紧，绷紧
    • tense something/yourself (up) She tensed her muscles in anticipation of the blow.眼看要挨打，她绷紧了肌肉。🔊🔊
    • He tensed himself, listening to see if anyone had followed him.他竖起耳朵谛听是否有人跟踪。🔊🔊
    • Expecting a blow, she tensed every muscle in her body.她绷紧了全身肌肉，准备接受打击。
    • tense (up) His muscles tensed as he got ready to run.他准备起跑时肌肉绷紧了。🔊🔊
    • She tensed, hearing the strange noise again.再次听到那个奇怪的声音，她紧张起来。🔊🔊
    Word Originverb late 17th cent.: from Latin tensus ‘stretched’, from the verb tendere.
Idioms
be/get tensed up
  1. to become or feel nervous or worried so that you cannot relax变得神经紧张；变得焦虑不安
    • I was so tensed up during the flight.在飞行中我是如此紧张。