What is another word for tension?

Synonyms for tension
ˈtɛn ʃənten·sion

This thesaurus page includes all potential synonyms, words with the same meaning and similar terms for the word tension.

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms4.7 / 3 votes

  1. tension

    Synonyms:
    stretch, strain, intentness, tightness, stiffness, force, tone, effort

    Antonyms:
    looseness, relaxation, laxity, atony, slackness

Princeton's WordNet1.3 / 4 votes

  1. tension, tenseness, stressnoun

    (psychology) a state of mental or emotional strain or suspense

    "he suffered from fatigue and emotional tension"; "stress is a vasoconstrictor"

    Synonyms:
    accent, strain, latent hostility, focus, tensity, tautness, tenseness, emphasis, stress

  2. tension, tensity, tenseness, tautnessnoun

    the physical condition of being stretched or strained

    "it places great tension on the leg muscles"; "he could feel the tenseness of her body"

    Synonyms:
    stress, tautness, tenseness, tightness, tensity, latent hostility

  3. tensionnoun

    a balance between and interplay of opposing elements or tendencies (especially in art or literature)

    "there is a tension created between narrative time and movie time"; "there is a tension between these approaches to understanding history"

    Synonyms:
    stress, tautness, tenseness, tensity, latent hostility

  4. tensionnoun

    (physics) a stress that produces an elongation of an elastic physical body

    "the direction of maximum tension moves asymptotically toward the direction of the shear"

    Synonyms:
    stress, tautness, tenseness, tensity, latent hostility

  5. latent hostility, tensionnoun

    feelings of hostility that are not manifest

    "he could sense her latent hostility to him"; "the diplomats' first concern was to reduce international tensions"

    Synonyms:
    stress, tenseness, tautness, tensity, latent hostility

  6. tensionnoun

    the action of stretching something tight

    "tension holds the belt in the pulleys"

    Synonyms:
    stress, tautness, tenseness, tensity, latent hostility

Editors Contribution0.0 / 0 votes

  1. stress

    a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.

    "he's obviously under a lot of stress"

    Submitted by rinat on August 15, 2019  

Dictionary of English Synonymes5.0 / 1 vote

  1. tensionnoun

    Synonyms:
    stretching, straining

  2. tensionnoun

    Synonyms:
    strain, rigor, severe effort

  3. tensionnoun

    Synonyms:
    (Physics.) expansive force, elastic force

Nicknames0.0 / 0 votes

  1. List of known nicknames for "Tension":

    DJ Tension

How to pronounce tension?

How to say tension in sign language?

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

Words popularity by usage frequency

rankingword
#1022force
#1230focus
#1608pressure
#1992effort
#2989stress
#4082tone
#4149voltage
#4487emphasis
#5572stretch
#6612strain
#7946tension
#8873accent
#13821friction
#14744traction
#15290spanning
#16043tense
#17762tensions
#23226stiffness
#25117tensile
#40994tightness
#228057tensity
#270065tenseness

How to use tension in a sentence?

  1. Gwendolyn Berry:

    I walked the streets, everybody was walking and protesting, and you could just feel the tension, my heart was broken. Here is this young man — another young man — that’s just killed, unarmed and killed. It made me question, ‘Why is this becoming a thing?'.

  2. Mitra Ebadolahi:

    There's been bad cases in terms of the scope of privacy rights of searches of personal effects and of people trying to cross into the United States, and that's an ongoing tension and something we continue to have concerns about, particularly in a world where the administration is committed to further militarization and build up at the border and has this real expansive notion of what the border is.

  3. Oprah Winfrey:

    I am who I am today because of the experience of learning to read at an early age. Reading opened up a whole world for me beyond the red dirt road and my grandmother's porch in Mississippi, i want to do that for everybody. And the opportunity to do this with Apple, to speak to people all over the world about the pleasures, the excitement, the tension, the drama that a good book can bring you... I don't know what's better than that.

  4. Michael Hamlin:

    Foam rolling is a form of self-myofascial release, which is a technique used to release muscle tension and increase mobility and flexibility.

  5. James McKay:

    People are naturally drawn toward disasters as stories. If you don't have any jeopardy, you don't really have a plot, if everything's going well, there's not much dramatic tension.


Translations for tension

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"tension." Synonyms.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 17 Feb. 2025. <https://www.synonyms.com/synonym/tension>.

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