Any of the forms of a verb which distinguish when an action or state of being occurs or exists
The basic tenses in English are present, past, and future.
If your body is tense, your muscles are tight and not relaxed. A bath can relax tense muscles. + tenseness tense·ness If you feel a tenseness around the eyes, relax your muscles
Indicates the time frame for verb action, past, present or future, and whether the action occurred at a point in time (a simple tense) over time (a progressive tense) or before another event (a perfect tense)
a property of verbs relating primarily to the time at which the action or event denoted by the verb takes place For example, past tense verbs, as in Sam left, describe events in the past
If you are tense, you are anxious and nervous and cannot relax. Dart, who had at first been very tense, at last relaxed. + tensely tense·ly She waited tensely for the next bulletin + tenseness tense·ness McKay walked slowly toward this screen, feeling a growing tenseness
verbs often change their form according to when the action they describe happens They may be in the past tense ('the library was closed on Monday', 'the library closed early'), the present ('the library is open') or the future ('the library will open tomorrow')
a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time make tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious; become tense or tenser; "He tensed up when he saw his opponent enter the room"
(tense) In grammar, tense refers to the form a verb can take to indicate the time and duration of whatever is specified by that verb
The tense of a verb group is its form, which usually shows whether you are referring to past, present, or future time. tense up to make your muscles tight and stiff, or to become tight and stiff. In grammar, an inflected form of a verb indicating the time of a narrated event in relation to the time at which the narrator is speaking. Time is often perceived as a continuum with three main divisions, past, present, and future, defined in relation to the time when the event is described. Other categories, including mood and aspect, may further specify the action as definite or indefinite, completed or not completed, lasting or nonlasting, and recurring or occurring once