n. 25B6; adjective
the tense muscles of his neck : TAUT, tight, rigid, stretched, strained, stiff.
Loretta was feeling tense and irritable : ANXIOUS, nervous, on edge, edgy, strained, stressed, under pressure, agitated, ill at ease, uneasy, nervy, restless, worked up, keyed up, overwrought, on tenterhooks, with one's stomach in knots, worried, apprehensive, panicky; informal a bundle of nerves, jittery, jumpy, twitchy, uptight, stressed out; N. Amer. informal spooky, squirrelly.
a tense moment : NERVE-RACKING, stressful, anxious, worrying, fraught, charged, strained, nail-biting, difficult, uneasy, uncomfortable; exciting, cliffhanging, knife-edge.
slack, calm.
25B6; verb Hebden tensed his muscles : TIGHTEN, tauten, tense up, flex, contract, brace, stiffen; screw up, knot, strain, stretch; N. Amer. squinch up.
relax.