tense

Tense, a form of a verb, comes from Old French; tense, stretched tight, comes from Latin.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tens/^[4]

tense¹ verb form

Etymology

The verb form is inherited from Middle English tens (“time”), borrowed from Old French tens (“time, period”) (modern French temps),^[1][5][2] from Latin tempus (“a portion of time”) (see temporal).^[1][5][3] It is a doublet of tempo.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Time, a period of time: about 1315 in the OED, the early 14th century in Etymonline; the sense is now obsolete or archaic.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The grammatical sense, a form of a verb showing the time of an action or state, is from 1388 in the OED and the late 14th century in Etymonline,^[6][5] but Barnhart's first example, before 1333 in William of Shoreham's poems, already has it.^[1] Compounds such as tense marker are from 1892.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1315 – time (obsolete).^[6]
• before 1333 – tense of a verb.^[1]
• 1388 – grammatical tense.^[6]
• 1892 – tense-form, tense marker.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (grammar) Any of the forms of a verb that show the time of the action or state, such as past, present or future.
2. (grammar) A set of such forms expressing one particular time.

tense² stretched tight

Etymology

The adjective is borrowed from Latin tēnsus (“stretched”), the past participle of tendō (“to stretch, extend”) (see tend).^[1][5][2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Stretched tight, taut: 1670 in Barnhart and the OED, the 1660s in Etymonline,^[1][6][5] 1668 in Merriam-Webster.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, in a state of nervous strain, is first recorded in 1821, in Coleridge.^[1][6][5] The verb, to stretch tight, is from 1676,^[1][6][3] and the intransitive sense, to become tense, by 1884, often as tense up.^[5] In phonetics a tense sound is one articulated with taut muscles (1909).^[6][8]

Timeline

• 1668 – tense (adjective).^[3]
• 1670 – stretched tight.^[1][6]
• 1676 – to tense (verb).^[1][6]
• 1821 – nervous, strained.^[1][6]
• 1884 – to become tense.^[5]
• 1909 – tense (phonetics).^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Stretched tight; taut.
2. Under mental or nervous strain.
3. Causing strain or suspense: a tense day.
4. (phonetics) Of a speech sound, pronounced with the muscles held taut.

Verb

1. To make or become tense, often with up.

Word family

• tensely
• tenseness

Related words

• tend
• tension
• tent
• intense
• tensile
• tempo
• temporal

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin