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tensão

Portuguese, noun/tẽˈsɐ̃w̃/

tensão is a Portuguese feminine noun meaning “tenseness (the characteristic of being tense)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “o ato ou efeito de esticar ou forçar algo ao seu limite”.

What does tensão mean in English?

noun

  1. 1

    femininetenseness (the characteristic of being tense)

  2. 2

    femininetension (psychological state of being tense)

  3. 3

    femininetension (state of an elastic object which is stretched in a way which increases its length)

  4. 4

    femininestress (the internal distribution of force per unit area)

  5. 5

    femininetension; voltage

  6. 6

    femininea situation where conflict between social groups is imminent

  7. 7

    femininetenseness (a particular vowel or consonant quality)

  8. 8

    femininetenson (debate between two interlocutors)

Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How Portuguese dictionaries define it

noun: 1. o ato ou efeito de esticar ou forçar algo ao seu limite 2. excitação mental ou física; suspense, ansiedade 3. estado de oposição ou hostilidade latente entre indivíduos, grupos, nações, etc 4. força que produz deformação longitudinal num corpo

The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.

Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.

Forms of tensão

  • tensões plural

Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

How do you pronounce tensão?

  • Brazil /tẽˈsɐ̃w̃/
  • Portugal /tẽ.ˈsɐ.ɐ̃w̃/

Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.

English words that translate to tensão

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is tensão in Portuguese?

tensão appears 31 times per million words in written Portuguese.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).