Pronunciation
Definition
深夜テンション (しんやてんしょん, shinya tension/tenshon) means the phenomenon that you experience when you’re staying up late at night. During 深夜テンション, you typically feel high, bold, and somewhat irrational even without drinking. 深夜テンション can bring you the “golden time” when you feel more positive than usual and find anything, even lame jokes or conversations, quite hilarious. Some people end up going overboard and doing something they regret the next day, such as:
- buying very expensive and unnecessary stuff on Amazon
- writing a lengthy and poetic post on Facebook
- sending an overly emotional text like “I love you” or “I can’t help thinking about you” to one’s crush
, and so on. This phenomenon is considered to be caused by the rise in dopamine following sleep deprivation.
Word Structure
深夜テンション consists of the two words “深夜“ and “テンション”. The first word means “midnight” and is composed of the two kanji characters “深” meaning “deep” and “夜” meaning “night”. The latter word “テンション” is loaned from the English word “tension”, but its meaning is completely different from the English word. See the following section for how it is used in Japanese.
テンション (tension) in Japanese
In Japanese, テンション (tension) is used to indicate a person’s emotional state or feeling. For instance, “テンションが高い” or “ハイテンション”, which literally means “tension is high” or “high-tension”, actually means “(someone) is excited, giddy or delighted”. Similarly, “テンションが低い”, which means “tension is low”, indicates that someone is down, gloomy, or depressed. Since many Japanese people believe that “tension” in English has the same meaning as テンション, you may sometimes hear them say “You are high-tension!” or the like, which you can interpret as “You look excited!” or “You look delighted!”.
Example Sentences
Ex1
深夜テンションで自分のダンス動画をYouTubeにアップした事は黒歴史だ
It is my 黒歴史 that I uploaded my dance video on YouTube during “midnight high”.
Click here to learn the meaning of “黒歴史”
Ex2
深夜テンションで何か重要な決断をするのは避けるべきだ
You should avoid deciding something important when you are in “midnight high” (temporary high at midnight).
Ex3
深夜テンションでブログを書くと、大抵は翌朝後悔することになる
If you write a blog during the “midnight high”, you most likely regret that the next morning.
Ex4
深夜テンションだと、くだらない冗談でもとても面白く感じる
During “midnight high”, even lame jokes can sound very funny
Synonyms: None
Synonyms in English: temporary high at midnight
Related words and phrases: 深夜 (midnight), テンションが高い (excited), テンションが低い (down)
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