tension, tensity, tenseness, tautness (noun)

the physical condition of being stretched or strained

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

tension, tenseness, stress (noun)

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

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

tenseness (Noun)

The characteristic of being tense.

tenseness (Noun)

A particular vowel or consonant quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English.

Tenseness

In phonology, tenseness is a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. It has also occasionally been used to describe contrasts in consonants. Unlike most distinctive features, the feature [tense] can be interpreted only relatively, that is, in a language like English that contrasts and, the former can be described as a tense vowel while the latter is a lax vowel. Another example is Vietnamese, where the letters ă and â represent lax vowels, and the letters a and ơ the corresponding tense vowels. Some languages like Spanish are often considered as having only tense vowels, but since the quality of tenseness is not a phonemic feature in this language, it cannot be applied to describe its vowels in any meaningful way.