as in tightening
to draw tight
he tensed his muscles and attempted to lift the heavy appliance onto the truck
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Recent Examples of tensing
Keep tensing and releasing muscles of the chest, abdomen, pelvis, legs, feet, and toes.
—
Carley Millhone, Health, 2 Oct. 2025
Seemingly immediately, your heart will begin racing and your muscles will start tensing.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025
Sport mode is where things get serious, tensing the car’s muscles and unleashing the entire prairie of horses.
—Tim Pitt, Robb Report, 6 Aug. 2025
Carley Millhone, Health, 2 Oct. 2025
Seemingly immediately, your heart will begin racing and your muscles will start tensing.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025
Sport mode is where things get serious, tensing the car’s muscles and unleashing the entire prairie of horses.
—Tim Pitt, Robb Report, 6 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tensing
tightening
Verb
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Previous polls had shown Spanberger ahead by wider margins, signaling a tightening race over the past month.—
Martha McHardy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Oct. 2025
-
The most stomach-tightening course arguably involves the Cave Peak Stairway, a 200-foot-long steel bridge that spans from one peak to another.—
AFAR Media,
AFAR Media,
30 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tensing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tensing. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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