tense

Yet, this tense adventure makes a strong case that bad parents can still teach good lessons, even when a kid strives to live in opposition to their folks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026

At a tense board meeting, Mashburn chastised California Forever for the rush but voted to endorse a compromise bill.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

It’s the reason so many of us walk to our cars with our keys poking through our fingers, why we tense up when someone walks too closely behind us on a dark street.

From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026

But people are growing "tense," feeling that "this wasn't what I expected."

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

I shook my head, hoping to shake away the tense jitters.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

“But when you speak in your mother tongue, your body tenses up a bit because you think, ‘I understand the full emotional spectrum of what I’m talking about.’

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

“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 start to attack, the larva tenses its muscles and expels a drop of bright red fluid known as hemolymph.

From Science Magazine ● Mar. 15, 2024

I don’t want to tell her that the idea of going over there and talking with the team tenses my entire body up.

From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell

“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

But combine that with spectacular writing, which delivered one of the tensest season finales in recent memory, and I’m anxious to find out what’s next.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 23, 2022

Norway's prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre describes this as the tensest security situation the country has faced in decades.

From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2022

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

In Rome, it was all there again for Djokovic: lithe, deep and consistent returns, a pickpocket’s moxie during the tensest moments.

From New York Times ● May 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

Imagine how the majority of spectators would have tensed up when manager Dave Roberts trudged to the mound to remove Alex Vesia if the game was actually close.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2025

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

Anya tensed up and slid the potion back into her pocket.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

My muscles were tensing at the torrent of oversharing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

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

At my side, Tobias straightens, his muscles tensing.

From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth