ten‧sion W2 AC / tenʃ ə n / 名词

1 nervous feeling [不可数名词] a nervous worried feeling that makes it impossible for you to relax → tense :

The tension was becoming unbearable, and I wanted to scream.

reduce/relieve/ease etc tension

Exercise is the ideal way to relieve tension after a hard day.

2 no trust [可数名词，通常复数，不可数] the feeling that exists when people or countries do not trust each other and may suddenly attack each other or start arguing

political/racial/social etc tension

In those days, there was a great deal of racial tension on campus.

tension between

The obvious tension between Warren and Anne made everyone else uncomfortable.

3 different influences [可数和不可数名词] if there is tension between two things, there is a difference between the needs or influences of each, and that causes problems

tension between

In business, there’s always a tension between the needs of customers and shareholders.

4 tightness [不可数名词] tightness or stiffness in a wire, rope, muscle etc :

Tension in the neck muscles can cause headaches.

Muscle tension can be a sign of stress.

5 force [不可数名词] the amount of force that stretches something :

This wire will take 50 pounds tension.

tension on

There was a lot of tension on the wire before it snapped.

COLLOCATIONS

形容词

unbearable The tension was almost unbearable by the time we reached the decisive last round.

nervous tension The night before the wedding my mother was in a state of nervous tension.

high tension There was a moment of high tension as the firemen entered the burning building.

dramatic tension (= the tension you feel when you are not sure quite what will happen in a story ) This uncertainty adds to the film’s dramatic tension.

动词

reduce/ease/relieve tension Breathing deeply helps to clear my mind and reduce tension.

sense the tension She could sense the tension in the room.

短语

a state of tension Marjorie lived in a constant state of tension waiting for his phone calls.

an atmosphere of tension Voting took place in an atmosphere of tension.

COLLOCATIONS

形容词

racial tension Racial tension boiled over and riots quickly spread.

social tension The economic crisis was accompanied by mounting social tension.

political tension The heightened political tension could easily spill over into violence.

tension is/remains high After the election, political tension remains high.

increasing/growing/mounting/rising tension There are reports of increasing tension in some areas.

heightened tension (= greater than before ) a time of heightened tension between the two countries

动词

defuse tension (= make a situation more friendly ) He searched for ways of defusing racial tension.

raise/increase the tension The arrests only served to raise the tension.

短语

a source of tension This agreement should remove a major source of tension among America’s allies.