tense
Example Sentences
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The changing picture is nevertheless likely to make for tense discussions among the ECB's "hawks", who favour rate hikes, and the "doves", who advocate looser policy.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
The relationship between Uefa and Fifa has been tense during the World Cup, with the governing bodies clashing over the Folarin Balogun incident and other issues.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
The atmosphere was tense, as crisis negotiations continued until early Friday morning when the two employees were safely surrendered, and Hendrickson and his adult son, Phoenix, were taken into custody, LaRue said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
Discovery after a tense bidding war against Paramount Skydance, which ultimately agreed to buy the entertainment company in a deal worth $110 billion, including debt.
From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026
My heart’s punching my ribs now, rapid-fire like a jackhammer, and my muscles tense with the energy that will catapult me forward.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
“When I’m frustrated and my eyes roll and my voice tenses, they feel that,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
Mr. Drout analyzes with clarity and humor Tolkien’s fascination with Finnish grammar, the distinctive ways he uses pronouns and the particular verb tenses he favors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
As the ants mount their attack, the juvenile beetle tenses its muscles and expels a drop of bright red fluid.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 12, 2024
Rasavong’s body still tenses up when recounting, in particular, a call from an elderly woman.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 3, 2024
Day moves his injured leg a little and tenses up in pain.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
“As the night progressed, it got tenser and tenser. There were just more cops on all sides. It felt like we were being slowly pushed in and crushed,” said Ocean Muir, a sophomore.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
Things felt "tenser, the stakes feel higher", he said, adding that he had been "alarmed" by the number of people who had come out on to the streets.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2023
And this reaction evokes the challenge CNN faces as its news team barrels into a national election cycle that's already looking tenser and more fraught than 2020's or 2022's nailbiters.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2023
Things got tenser when Hyundai and LG Energy Solution announced a $4.3 billion electric battery plant in May at Hyundai’s new complex.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
“Four, three, two . “Oppenheimer, on whom had rested a very heavy burden, grew tenser as the last seconds ticked off,” remembered Farrell.
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
The tensest moment of the debate was when Bolsonaro called da Silva to stand next to him as he answered a question.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 29, 2022
The genuine tenderness between them, undergirding even their tensest interactions, is ultimately what makes their co-starring turns so memorable.
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2022
The show’s tensest moment is with Carmela alone in La Tofana’s for the first time, deciding whether to give out a poisonous remedy that Giulia only offers women after careful, extensive vetting.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 20, 2022
Now, as Angola approaches its closest and tensest election since multi-party democracy arrived in 1992, the "library" has also become a spot where young Angolans debate their country's future -- and lament its many failures.
From Reuters ● Aug. 23, 2022
The next forty-eight hours, Hitler later confessed, were the tensest of his life.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
When her sister, Rowe, walked in that morning, she found Waldorf with her eyes wide and glazed over, her jaw tensed.
From Salon ● May 27, 2026
Giving evidence at Liverpool Crown Court, Amaaz said he tensed up as he was grabbed by the arm and recognised it was a police officer when he turned round.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
It was too expensive to keep the fibers tensed all the time, plus it interfered with the electricity—but for earthquake-length bursts of time, the building and its occupants would be safe.
From Slate ● Jan. 27, 2024
When an unfamiliar man wearing a trench coat and carrying a backpack entered church one Sunday, Hollan tensed up, so alarmed by what the visitor might do that he and Kate had to leave.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 31, 2023
Sergeant Brown tensed as the voice came again.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
After a difficult doctor’s appointment with her mother recently, Thompson says she felt her whole body tensing up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 29, 2025
"Sometimes, I catch myself tensing up," Justin said.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2023
“I’m tensing up. There’s a lot of stuff I can do to protect myself.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 8, 2023
Ms Letby, who became the child's dedicated nurse later that evening, noted at 21:14 that he was tensing his limbs, curling his fingers and toes and rotating his hands and feet inwards.
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2023
I could feel the other prisoners tensing around me.
From "Prisoner B-3087" by Alan Gratz
Vocabulary lists containing tense
A Long Walk to Water
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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Language and Grammar - Introductory
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