tense

== English == === Pronunciation === enPR: tĕns, IPA(key): /tɛns/ Rhymes: -ɛns === Etymology 1 === From Middle English tens, from Old French tens (modern French temps), from Latin tempus. Doublet of tempo and tempus. ==== Noun ==== tense (plural tenses) (linguistics, uncountable) The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists. (linguistics, grammar, countable) An inflected form of a verb that indicates tense. (grammar, countable, proscribed) A grammatical aspect. (grammar, countable, proscribed) A verb form or construction indicating a combination of tense, aspect, and mood. Habits: I walk my dog every day. Stative verbs: You are happy. Facts: The Earth revolves around the Sun. Etc. ===== Usage notes ===== Some English-language authorities only consider inflected forms of verbs (i.e. the present and past tenses) as tenses, and not periphrastic forms such as the simple future with will. Grammatically tense (the location of an event in time: past, present, future) is often distinguished from aspect (how an event occurs or is viewed by the speaker: finished, ongoing, habitual, etc.). So I am eating and I was eating have different tenses (present and past) but the same aspect (continuous), whereas I was eating and I had eaten have the same tense (past) and different aspects (continuous and perfect). However, it is common in English (especially in language teaching) to refer to aspects as tenses (e.g. the perfect tense, the continuous tense). ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Related terms ===== See: Category:en:Tenses ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== tense (third-person singular simple present tenses, present participle tensing, simple past and past participle tensed) (grammar, transitive) To apply a tense to. tensing a verb === Etymology 2 === Borrowed from Latin tēnsus, one form of the past participle of tendō (“stretch”). ==== Adjective ==== tense (comparative tenser, superlative tensest) Showing signs of stress or strain; not relaxed. Synonyms: stressed, unrelaxed, taut Characterized by strain (on the nerves, emotions, etc). (Compare charged.) Pulled taut, without any slack. (phonetics, of a vowel) Produced with relative constriction of the vocal tract. Antonym: lax ===== Derived terms ===== hypertense tense vowel ===== Related terms ===== tend tension tent intense ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== tense (third-person singular simple present tenses, present participle tensing, simple past and past participle tensed) (transitive) To make tense. (intransitive) To become tense. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Anagrams === ESnet, Enets, NEETs, Stene, Tenes, enset, neets, seent, senet, sente, steen, teens == Latin == === Participle === tēnse vocative masculine singular of tēnsus == Spanish == === Verb === tense inflection of tensar: first/third-person singular present subjunctive third-person singular imperative