tense

Universal Words adjective, noun, verb adjective 1 (of a person) nervous or worried, and unable to relax: He's a very tense person. * She sounded tense and angry. 2 (of a situation, an event, a period of time, etc.) in which people have strong feelings such as worry, anger, etc. that often cannot be expressed openly: I spent a tense few weeks waiting for the results of the tests. * The atmosphere in the meeting was getting more and more tense. 3 (of a muscle or other part of the body) tight rather than relaxed: tense shoulders / hands * A massage will relax those tense muscles. 4 (of wire, etc.) stretched tightly tensely adverb tenseness noun [U] noun (grammar) any of the forms of a verb that may be used to show the time of the action or state expressed by the verb: the past / present / future tense verb ~ (sth) (up) to make your muscles tight and stiff, especially because you are not relaxed: [V] She tensed, hearing the strange noise again. * [VN] He tensed himself, listening to see if anyone had followed him. IDIOMS be / get tensed up to become or feel nervous or worried so that you cannot relax