tens

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛnz

Noun

tens

1. plural of ten

Noun

tens pl (plural only)

1. An inexact quantity or number, typically understood to be between 10 or 20 and 100.

   Synonym: dozens

   Our houses are tens of meters apart, so we don't have to worry about noise from our neighbours.

   tens of thousands of voters

   • 1987, w:Iain M. Banks, “Prologue”, in w:Consider Phlebas:

     Several tens of hours out on its first journey, while it was testing its track scanner by focusing back along the route it had taken, the ship registered a single massive annihilation explosion deep behind it, where the factory craft had been.

2. (poker slang) A pair of tens.
3. The period from a year 100x + 10 to a year 100x + 19 (mostly referring to the 1910s or 2010s). The teens, the oneties.

See also

Anagrams

• NETs, Sten, nets, NEST, sent., ENTs, Ents, Nest, ents, snet, nest, sent

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin tēnsus. Compare the inherited doublet tes.

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Further reading

• “tens” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “tens”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “tens” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “tens” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Verb

tens

1. (reintegrationist norm) second-person singular present indicative of ter

Etymology

From Old French tens, tans, from Latin tempus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛns/

Noun

tens (plural tenses or tens)

1. (grammar) tense

Etymology

From Latin tempus.

Noun

tens oblique singular, m (oblique plural tens, nominative singular tens, nominative plural tens)

1. Alternative form of tans
   • 13th century, Unknown, La Vie de Saint Laurent, page 1, column 2, line 16:

     Ki trop i prent son tens i pert

     He who spends too much of his time on it suffers as a result

Etymology

From Latin tenēs. Cognate with Galician tes and Spanish tienes. Also compare with vens.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -ẽj̃s, (Rio de Janeiro) -ẽj̃ʃ, (Portugal) -ɐ̃j̃ʃ
• Hyphenation: tens

Verb

tens

1. second-person singular present indicative of ter

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

tens

1. indefinite genitive singular of ten

Anagrams

• Sten, sent, sten