tense

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

Climaxing in a tense court case that hinges on what constitutes a slap, “Fjord” explores clashing cultures and mutual distrust, leaving us unsure how to feel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

Coxon was among the former AI employees who spoke before the New York City Council, along with representatives of OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Google, with the exchanges often becoming tense.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

And when I opened them, Oliver was still there, his whole body tense as he watched me.

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows

“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 mount their attack, the juvenile beetle tenses its muscles and expels a drop of bright red fluid.

From Science Magazine ● Mar. 12, 2024

Bootsteps shuffle and thump around me, Centurions shout orders, and I hear amphitheater and Fourth Trial My whole body tenses.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir

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

Then, said Elon Musk, the company’s founder, in an update delivered during a Twitter audio chat on Saturday night, the end of the flight was tenser than it should have been.

From New York Times ● Apr. 29, 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

He speaks in the tensest voice I’ve ever heard him use.

From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez

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

Even the way my neck tensed up — I couldn’t, move my neck after some of these days because you’re straining.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2026

Most major office buildings, include Elephant’s, had an earthquake protocol; upon detecting a quake, microfibers in the walls tensed up to enforce the structure of the building.

From Slate ● Jan. 27, 2024

“She loves them. Just like every little girl. We buy her dolls, and my sisters buy her dolls, and our friends buy her dolls—” She giggled again, and Mr. Richardson’s jaw tensed.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

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 ’zactly ten minutes after noon the voices of the students was heard and my stomach started tensing up.

From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis