ADJ
- inner
- emotional, muscle/muscular, nervous, pre-menstrual, sexual
- He suffers from nervous tension
VERB + TENSION
- feel, suffer from
- I feel some tension in my shoulders
- sense
- As soon as he entered, he sensed a tension in the air
- cause, create
- relieve
- release
PREP
- ~ in
- The hot bath eased the tension in his body
PHRASES
- a release of tension
- Laughter can be a great release of tension
- a sign of tension
- Horses are very sensitive to signs of tension in humans
ADJ
- considerable, great, high
- More police have been sent to areas of high political tension
- slight
- growing, heightened, increased, increasing, mounting
- constant
- unresolved
- renewed
- ethnic, political, racial, religious, social
- communal, family, internal, international, national, regional
VERB + TENSION
- cause, create, generate
- defuse, ease, reduce
- She often used humour to defuse tension in meetings
- heighten
TENSION + VERB
- build up, grow, increase, mount, rise
- ease
- be palpable
PREP
- ~ among
- The tension among the audience was palpable
- ~ between
- tension between local youths and the police
- ~ in/within
- The redundancies caused greater tensions within the company
- ~ over
- There has been increased tension over the border incident
- ~ with
- renewed tension with France
PHRASES
- a source of tension
- Money was always a source of tension between her parents
VERB + TENSION
- adjust
- This old racket needs its string tension adjusted
- release
PREP
- in ~
- The metal is weak in tension
- under ~
- Stay clear of cables which are under tension
- ~ on
- The sudden tension on the line told me I had hooked a fish
