tension

Formstensions, tensioning, tensioned

1. 1
   noununcountable

   A mental state of feeling nervous, strained, or unable to relax.

   Months of overwork left him in a near-constant state of tension.

   The long delay raised the tension among the waiting passengers.

   Similarstress, strain, anxiety, nervousness

   Oppositecalm, relaxation

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The condition of being held between two or more forces that act in opposition to one another.

   The structure stays balanced through the tension between its cables and its supports.

   A beam pulled by two opposing forces is held in tension until one side gives way.

   Oppositecompression

   Note

   Opposed forces held in balance make an easy figure for strained relations between people. In the plural, followed by with, the word names friction between parties: tensions with a colleague, tensions over past actions. Such tensions can later ease or be fully resolved. The word reached English through Middle French tension, from Latin tēnsiō.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   A feeling of nervousness, excitement, or fear created in a movie, book, or similar work; suspense.

   The director builds tension by cutting away just before the danger appears.

   By the final act, the tension in the novel had become almost unbearable.

   Similarsuspense, excitement

4. 4
   noununcountable

   The pulling force transmitted along a rope, string, or cable, with the same magnitude acting at each end.

   The crane operator made sure the cable's tension stayed below the safe limit.

   When the climber hangs still, the tension in the rope equals her weight.

   Note

   In mechanics problems this is a quantity with a number attached: the tension in the cable is 1000 N. It takes in, on or of, as in tension in a rope or tension on a hook. The phrasing implies that the same force acts at both ends. For an ideal, massless line the value is uniform throughout, so one figure serves for the whole length.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   The state of an elastic object that has been stretched so that its length increases.

   The fabric was held under tension across the frame to keep it perfectly flat.

   Too much tension in the elastic cord caused it to tear.

   Similartautness, tightness

   Oppositeslackness, slack

   Note

   A condition of the material, not a force: a stretched spring, a drawn elastic cord, fabric pulled taut across a frame. Because the object is elastic, it pushes back, and its internal restoring forces work to return it to its original length. That is what separates it from the force carried along a rope, which is a quantity given in newtons rather than a state of the stretched thing.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To place an object under strain by pulling it tight.

   Technicians tension the steel rods to strengthen the concrete beam.

   Before each show, she tensions every string on the harp.

   Similartighten, tauten, stretch

   Oppositeloosen, slacken

   Note

   The verb made from the noun is transitive and regular, with the forms tensioned and tensioning. Its objects are things that can be pulled taut, such as a cable, a harp string or a steel rod. It can be pushed past the breaking point: we tensioned the cable until it snapped. It belongs with the mechanical senses, close to the force carried along a line, rather than with nervous strain.

7. 7
   noununcountable

   Voltage; the electrical potential difference that drives current through a circuit.

   Engineers measured the tension at the transformer's output terminals.

   The substation steps the tension down before electricity reaches homes.

   Similarvoltage

   Note

   An older engineering name for potential difference, now dated in general use, where voltage has taken its place. It survives most visibly in fixed compounds such as high-tension and low-tension, and in older engineering writing. Outside those settings voltage is the clearer choice, since a reader may otherwise take the word in its mechanical sense.

Showing meanings only. Show all 7