tenter

English

Etymology

Via Old French, perhaps from Latin tentorium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛn.təɹ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛntə(ɹ)

Noun

tenter (plural tenters)

1. A framework upon which cloth is stretched and dried.
2. One who takes care of, or tends, machines in a factory; a kind of assistant foreman.
3. (engineering) A kind of governor, or regulating device.

Translations

a framework upon which cloth is stretched and dried

• Bulgarian: рамка (bg) f (ramka), разпънка (bg) f (razpǎnka)
• Hungarian: feszítőkeret

one who takes care of, or tends, machines in a factory; a kind of assistant foreman

• Hungarian: felügyelő (hu), gépkezelő (hu), gépész (hu), gépmester (hu), művezető (hu)

engineering: a kind of governor, or regulating device

Verb

tenter (third-person singular simple present tenters, present participle tentering, simple past and past participle tentered)

1. (transitive) To stretch cloth on such a framework.
2. (intransitive) To admit extension; to be stretchable.
   • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     Woollen cloth will tenter, linen scarcely.

Derived terms

• tenterhook

Translations

to stretch cloth on such a framework

• Hungarian: kifeszít (hu), keretre húz

to admit extension; to be stretchable

Anagrams

• Netter, netter, retent

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French tenter, from Old French tempter, from Latin temptāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɑ̃.te/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

tenter

1. (with de for verbs) to attempt

   Synonyms: essayer, entreprendre

   L’ennemi tenta une attaque frontale.

   The enemy attempted a frontal attack.

   Le sultan tentait de se présenter comme un musulman pieux.

   The sultan attempted to present himself as a pious Muslim.

2. to tempt

   Le serpent tenta Ève.

   The serpent tempted Eve.

3. to be desirable or interesting to; to be something one feels like doing

   Ça te tente de prendre une bière?

   Do you feel like having a beer?

   J’ai tellement de devoirs à faire mais ça ne me tente pas.

   I have so much homework to do, but I don't feel like it.

Conjugation

Conjugation of tenter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	tenter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	tentant /tɑ̃.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		tenté /tɑ̃.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	tente /tɑ̃t/	tentes /tɑ̃t/	tente /tɑ̃t/	tentons /tɑ̃.tɔ̃/	tentez /tɑ̃.te/	tentent /tɑ̃t/
	imperfect	tentais /tɑ̃.tɛ/	tentais /tɑ̃.tɛ/	tentait /tɑ̃.tɛ/	tentions /tɑ̃.tjɔ̃/	tentiez /tɑ̃.tje/	tentaient /tɑ̃.tɛ/
	past historic2	tentai /tɑ̃.te/	tentas /tɑ̃.ta/	tenta /tɑ̃.ta/	tentâmes /tɑ̃.tam/	tentâtes /tɑ̃.tat/	tentèrent /tɑ̃.tɛʁ/
	future	tenterai /tɑ̃.tʁe/	tenteras /tɑ̃.tʁa/	tentera /tɑ̃.tʁa/	tenterons /tɑ̃.tʁɔ̃/	tenterez /tɑ̃.tʁe/	tenteront /tɑ̃.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	tenterais /tɑ̃.tʁɛ/	tenterais /tɑ̃.tʁɛ/	tenterait /tɑ̃.tʁɛ/	tenterions /tɑ̃.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	tenteriez /tɑ̃.tə.ʁje/	tenteraient /tɑ̃.tʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	tente /tɑ̃t/	tentes /tɑ̃t/	tente /tɑ̃t/	tentions /tɑ̃.tjɔ̃/	tentiez /tɑ̃.tje/	tentent /tɑ̃t/
	imperfect2	tentasse /tɑ̃.tas/	tentasses /tɑ̃.tas/	tentât /tɑ̃.ta/	tentassions /tɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/	tentassiez /tɑ̃.ta.sje/	tentassent /tɑ̃.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	tente /tɑ̃t/	—	tentons /tɑ̃.tɔ̃/	tentez /tɑ̃.te/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• intentable (“unattemptable”)
• tentable (“attemptable”)
• tentant (“tempting”)
• tentatif (“tentative”)
• tentation (“temptation”)
• tentative (“attempt”)
• tenté (“tempted”)
• tenter Dieu (“to tempt God”)
• tenter le diable
• tenter le tout pour le tout

 

Further reading

• “tenter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• trente, Trente

Latin

Verb

tenter

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of tentō

Norman

Etymology

From Latin temptō, temptāre.

Verb

tenter

1. (Jersey) to try

Synonyms

• tâchi