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Stretched tightly; strained to stiffness; rigid; not lax; as, a tense fiber. The temples were sunk, her forehead was tense, and a fatal paleness was upon her. Goldsmith. -- Tense"ly, adv. -- Tense"ness, n.

Equal in intensity or degree; as, the relations between 6 and 12, and 8 and 16, are cointense. H. Spencer.

Outreaching; expansive; extended, superficially or otherwise. Men and gods are too extense; Could you slacken and condense Emerson.

Strained; tightly drawn; kept on the stretch; strict; very close or earnest; as, intense study or application; intense thought.

To an extreme degree; as, weather intensely cold.

The state or quality of being intense; intensity; as, the intenseness of heat or cold; the intenseness of study or thought.

claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. Spenser. Primogeniture can not have any pretense to a right of solely inheriting property or power. Locke. I went to Lambeth with Sir R. Brown's pretense to the wardenship of Merton College, Oxford. Evelyn.

Pretended; feigned. [Obs.] -- Pre*tens"ed*ly, adv. [Obs.]

Abounding in pretenses.

Not having or making pretenses.

Extension.[Obs.] " By due degrees and long protense." Spenser.

A line subtending, or stretching across; a chord; as, the subtense of an arc.

The common wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), an intensely bitter plant, used as a tonic and for making the oil of wormwood.

An intensely poisonous alkaloid, extracted from aconite.

in, or the destructive distillation of neutral fats containing glycerin. Its vapors are intensely irritating. Watts.

nsibility; susceptible to slight impressions; acting keenly on the senses; sharp; keen; intense; as, a man of acute eyesight, hearing, or feeling; acute pain or pleasure.

Homage paid to one in high esteem; profound veneration; intense regard and love; fervent devotion.

To make a show of; to put on a pretense of; to feign; to assume; as, to affect ignorance. Careless she is with artful care, Affecting to seem unaffected. Congreve. Thou dost affect my manners. Shak.

The first person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mode, present tense. See Be. God said unto Moses, I am that am. Exod. iii. 14.

To render larger, more extended, or more intense, and the like; -- used especially of telescopes, microscopes, etc.