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English
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French tension, from Latin tēnsiō.
Pronunciation
Noun
tension (countable and uncountable, plural tensions)
- The condition of being held in a state between two or more forces, which are acting in opposition to each other.
My tensions with Eric over his alleged past actions have been fully resolved.
- A psychological state of being tense.
- A feeling of nervousness, excitement, or fear that is created in a movie, book, etc.; suspense.
- (physics, engineering) The state of an elastic object which is stretched in a way which increases its length.
- (physics, engineering) A force transmitted through a rope, string, cable, or similar object (used with prepositions on, in, or of, e.g., "The tension in the cable is 1000 N", to convey that the same magnitude of force applies to objects attached to both ends).
- (physics, engineering) Voltage.
Usage notes
- Of the sixth sense, usually only the terms low tension, high tension, and extra-high tension, and the abbreviations LT, HT, and EHT are used. They are not precisely defined; LT is normally a few volts, HT a few hundreds of volts, and EHT thousands of volts.
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Japanese: テンション (tenshon, “excitement”)
Translations
condition of being held in a state between two or more forces
state of an elastic object
Verb
tension (third-person singular simple present tensions, present participle tensioning, simple past and past participle tensioned)
- To place an object in tension, to pull or place strain on.
We tensioned the cable until it snapped.
Translations
place an object in tension
Anagrams
Esperanto
Noun
tension
- accusative singular of tensio
Finnish
Noun
tension
- genitive singular of tensio
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French tension, borrowed from Latin tensiō.
Pronunciation
Noun
tension f (plural tensions)
- tension
- blood pressure
chute de tension- drop in blood pressure
- voltage
Derived terms
Descendants
Further reading
Anagrams
Occitan
Pronunciation
Noun
tension f (plural tensions)
- tension