tense

noun

A property of verbs in which the time of the action or state, as well as its continuance or completion, is indicated or expressed.

noun

A category or set of verb forms that indicate or express the time, such as past, present, or future, of the action or state.

Being in a state of tension; stretched until tight; strained to stiffness; rigid; not lax: often used figuratively.

To make tense or taut.

noun

Time. See temps.

noun

In grammar: Time.

noun

One of the forms, or sets of forms, which a verb takes in order to indicate the time of action or of that which is affirmed: extended also to forms indicating the nature of the action as continued, completed, and the like.

adjective

Stretched tightly; strained to stiffness; rigid; not lax.

noun

One of the forms which a verb takes by inflection or by adding auxiliary words, so as to indicate the time of the action or event signified; the modification which verbs undergo for the indication of time.

noun

Any of the forms of a verb which distinguish when an action or state of being occurs or exists.