1The state of being stretched tight.

1. 1.1The state of having the muscles stretched tight, especially as causing strain or discomfort.
   ‘the elimination of neck tension can relieve headaches’
   More example sentences

   • ‘Participants were taught to perform the techniques independently from the fifth week and to avoid unnecessary tension in the neck muscles.’
   • ‘One-minute breaks every 20 minutes or so can help relieve tension and loosen stiff muscles.’
   • ‘During a massage, your practitioner kneads your skin, muscles and tendons in an effort to relieve muscle tension and stress and promote relaxation.’
   • ‘While you are at it, do some stretching exercises to relieve tension in your back, shoulders, and neck.’
   • ‘Visualize that you are exhaling any feelings of discomfort and muscle tension.’
   • ‘Reiki is believed to be helpful in decreasing pain, relieving sleeplessness, soothing muscle tension, and increasing healing time.’
   • ‘This improves circulation (the flow of blood around your body), relieves pain, and relaxes tension in the muscles.’
   • ‘Music therapy contributes to reduced anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate and to relaxed muscle tension.’
   • ‘This increase in number seems to depend on the growth of the long bones putting tension on the muscle through its tendons.’
   • ‘He also describes cold shivering, increased muscle tension, and a delicious taste, and he swallows repeatedly.’
   • ‘Decreased muscle tension on the vocal cords produces lower pitch sounds.’
   • ‘Do you experience physical reactions such as muscle tension or a racing heart when you get angry?’
   • ‘Strangely she felt her muscles relieve some tension.’
   • ‘As you learn to relax, you'll become more aware of muscle tension and other physical sensations caused by the stress response.’
   • ‘Then I begin to relieve the muscle tension and restore mobility with some stretching and gentle manipulation.’
   • ‘You'll also be less likely to fall victim to the muscle tension and strain that most keyboard-tapping cubicle dwellers are afflicted with every day.’
   • ‘It typically produces muscle tension, making it difficult to relax.’
   • ‘Bringing the weights together can relieve tension from the muscle, which decreases the total amount of time your pecs are working.’
   • ‘And learning how to release undue tension in our necks is one of the best things we can do to improve our overall functioning.’
   • ‘Additionally, you can relieve neck and shoulder tension with the following three yoga-inspired stretches.’
2. 1.2A strained state or condition resulting from forces acting in opposition to each other.
   ‘enormous tension can build up along the margin of the two plates and occasionally explodes into immense earthquakes’
   More example sentences

   • ‘The water going down your plughole, the planets going around the sun, the electrons spinning around a nucleus, they all reflect the same dynamic tension between opposing forces.’
   • ‘An answer was provided by inflation: the idea that the universe was born in a state of tension, forcing it to expand enormously fast.’
   • ‘Controlling the oil in the crankcase significantly reduces ring tension to unlock even more power by minimizing friction.’
3. 1.3The degree of tightness of stitches in knitting and machine sewing.
   ‘Test on fabric scraps for the best tension and stitch length.’
   More example sentences

   • ‘Uneven stitches usually indicate the tension is out of balance.’
   • ‘Observe the stitch, adjusting the tension until the stitch is formed correctly.’
   • ‘They can recognise their own capabilities in it - someone adjusting the tension of their knitting is intuitively doing what I do when I adjust the difference between lines.’
   • ‘Thread should unwind from the spool and enter the first tension guide on the machine without kinking, twisting or puddling.’
   • ‘To prevent breakage, tension problems or machine malfunction, use high-quality thread.’
   • ‘The only adjustable tension for the chain stitch is the needle tension.’
4. 1.4Electromotive force.
   ‘Tsagas found that the magnetic tension in bent magnetic field lines tends to flatten the surrounding space.’
   More example sentences

   • ‘Researchers believe this tension results in stripes that are stable under magnetic fields of a certain strength.’
   • ‘It's the electromagnetic tension field, not the power that stand for the interdimensional interaction.’

2Mental or emotional strain.

1. 2.1A strained political or social state or relationship.
   ‘the coup followed months of tension between the military and the government’
   More example sentences

   • ‘racial tensions’
   • ‘When food and fuel subsidies go, people riot and social tensions stoke the flames.’
   • ‘This has already had the effect of increasing tensions and is fomenting political hatred.’
   • ‘As a result there were tensions in the relationship, which involved regular arguments.’
   • ‘The danger of war is growing even now as social tensions and conflicts increase.’
   • ‘The union officials called the strike in an effort to diffuse explosive social tensions.’
   • ‘The poet was careful to distance himself from the political tensions of his native country.’
   • ‘This was not a school rife with racial tensions, nor was it a failing school, and I look back on it fondly.’
   • ‘Some regard his positions as a reckless manoeuvre that will exacerbate racial tensions.’
   • ‘The political struggle touched off traditional tensions between the two groups.’
   • ‘It could ease tensions and improve ties between the bitter political rivals.’
   • ‘Sexual and romantic tensions cause further strain within the group which culminate in a violent ending.’
   • ‘The real economic and class tensions are coming to the surface of American political life.’
   • ‘Yet there was still scope for tensions in the British - Australian relationship.’
   • ‘Markets remain fragile and are easily upset by international tensions.’
   • ‘When Chris came down he found his parents sitting stiffly opposite each other, the tension palpable.’
   • ‘Gold Ridge was a productive gold mine until the ethnic tension on Guadalcanal forced the owners to close in 1999.’
   • ‘There is so much hatred brewing between the ruling party and the opposition, creating unnecessary tension.’
   • ‘Ellen and Allison came into therapy because they were having arguments that created tension and distance between them that lasted for days at a time.’
   • ‘A horrific attack on father and daughter exposes the unspoken tensions in their relationship.’
   Synonyms

   strained relations, strain, unease

   View synonyms
2. 2.2A relationship between ideas or qualities with conflicting demands or implications.
   ‘the basic tension between freedom and control’
   More example sentences

   • ‘There has often been tension between conflicting ideas about the scope of EU competence and the policy-making process.’
   • ‘There is a basic tension between the idea of the rule of law and other aspects of the Constitution which still reflect an alternative principle that the law must serve the party state.’
   • ‘Herein lies the primary tension between the two conflicting and apparently contradictory trends regarding immigration throughout the west.’
   • ‘The panorama of the world shows a conflict and a tension between polar opposite qualities, for which humans have always been the via medium.’
   • ‘From the outset there was tension between the demands for office space and the feelings of the families of those who died at the World Trade Center.’
   • ‘The violent contest of battle causes war to be characterized by the constant tension between dialectically opposed ideas.’
   • ‘There's a growing tension between the idea of law as a professional service to the community and the idea of law as a business, and the business increasingly of government services.’
   • ‘Consequently, in McCaig's view, there is always a tension between the demands of the marketplace and the will to remain authentic.’
   • ‘Here is the basic tension between the tradition of philosophy in the west, and the science of biology once the Great Chain of Being had been abandoned.’
   • ‘The tension between individual freedom and society was a popular theme in Dublin's literary revival, but in the North this topic had further implications.’
   • ‘The tension between these two interrelated concepts has been dramatised most strongly in the Indian public sphere after independence.’
   • ‘The tension between access and quality that exists in any healthcare system is aggravated when that system is seriously under-resourced.’
   • ‘It is also about the paradoxical tension between human freedom and divine providence.’
   • ‘This tension between image and interpretation was also at play in the early days of photography.’
   • ‘Peden's work helps shed light on the apparent tension between artistic freedom and mathematical constraint.’
   • ‘There is a creative tension between Pagan ideas and more Christian ones.’
   • ‘In addition, his support for the growing claims of the clergy as professionals was in tension with his opposition to similar claims by physicians and lawyers.’
   • ‘These positions are in considerable tension with each other.’
   • ‘In both cases, the architecture and lights operate in tension with each other.’
   • ‘But naturally, these considerations are almost always in tension with each other.’

Apply a force to (something) which tends to stretch it.