tension

B1 Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /ˈtɛnʃən/ UK /ˈtɛnʃn̩/ See IPA manual

Freq #4884

Meanings

1

noun
A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, often in difficult situations.

There was a lot of tension in the room before the results were announced.
2

noun
An uncomfortable situation when people or groups disagree or distrust each other.

Tension between the two countries grew after the dispute.
3

noun
The state of being stretched tight, or the force pulling on something.

You can adjust the tension of the strings on a guitar.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a feeling of worry,... stress tenseness

3 noun · the state of being... tautness tightness

Word family

Forms tensionedtensioningtensions

Derived forms antitensionhigh-tensionhypertensionhypotensionnormotensionpost-tensionpretensiontensionaltensionertensionlessthermotension

Related forms tensile

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

surface tension
the effect of molecular attraction that makes a liquid's surface resist being stretched

Noun + noun

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ten- Proto-Indo-European *tend-der. Proto-Italic *tendō Latin tendō Proto-Indo-European *-tisder. Proto-Italic *-tjō Latin -tiō Latin tēnsiōder. Middle French tensionbor. English tension Borrowed from Middle French tension, from Latin tēnsiō.

tension Middle French tensio Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings Physics

External links

# tension

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈtɛnʃən/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈtɛnʃn̩/
**Frequency rank:** 4884

## Meanings
1. A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, often in difficult situations.
2. An uncomfortable situation when people or groups disagree or distrust each other.
3. The state of being stretched tight, or the force pulling on something.

## Examples
- There was a lot of tension in the room before the results were announced.
- Tension between the two countries grew after the dispute.
- You can adjust the tension of the strings on a guitar.

## Derived Forms
- antitension
- high-tension
- hypertension
- hypotension
- normotension
- post-tension
- pretension
- tensional
- tensioner
- tensionless
- thermotension

## Related Forms
- tensile

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: tension
- Root: tensio
- Affix: -sion - act

## Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ten- Proto-Indo-European *tend-der. Proto-Italic *tendō Latin tendō Proto-Indo-European *-tisder. Proto-Italic *-tjō Latin -tiō Latin tēnsiōder. Middle French tensionbor. English tension Borrowed from Middle French tension, from Latin tēnsiō.

## AI Etymology
Tension is borrowed from Middle French tension, from Latin tēnsiō. In present-day use, it can mean a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, often in difficult situations, or an uncomfortable situation when people or groups disagree or distrust each other. Derived formations include antitension, high-tension, hypertension, hypotension, normotension.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings
- Physics

markdown