tenso

Derived from Latin tēnsus (“stretched out, extended”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈtenso/

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• Rhymes: -enso
• Syllabification: ten‧so

tenso (accusative singular tenson, plural tensoj, accusative plural tensojn)

1. (grammar, linguistics) tense (verb forms distinguishing time)

• prezenco (“present tense”)
• preterito (“past tense”)
• futuro (“future tense”)
• pluskvamperfekto (“pluperfect”)

tenso

1. Rōmaji transcription of てんそ

tēnsō

1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of tēnsus

Learned borrowing from Latin tēnsus. Doublet of teso.

• Rhymes: -ẽsu
• Hyphenation: ten‧so

tenso (feminine tensa, masculine plural tensos, feminine plural tensas)

1. tense (showing stress or strain)

   Este ambiente está te deixando tenso.

   This environment is making you tense.

2. (Brazil, slang) difficult; complicated

   Eu acho tensa essa matéria na escola.

   I find this subject at school to be complicated.

3. (Brazil, slang) derisively different; weird

   O estilo dos punks é bem tenso. ― Punk people's style is quite weird.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:tenso.

• tensão

• “tenso”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “tenso”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

• IPA^(key): /ˈtenso/ [ˈt̪ẽn.so]
• Rhymes: -enso
• Syllabification: ten‧so

Borrowed from Latin tēnsus. Doublet of tieso.

tenso (feminine tensa, masculine plural tensos, feminine plural tensas)

1. tense, strained, taut, tensed
2. uptight, tense, stressed, edgy, fraught

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

tenso

1. first-person singular present indicative of tensar

• “tenso”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025