The tension broke for a moment, and she almost smiled.

When be came back, it was only when he stepped into the room that the tension broke.

A few men sniggered, but the tension did not break.

Suddenly the tension broke, and cheers went up from both sides of the valley.

The tension in the room should break, he thinks, but it does not.

The tension broke into laughter as the two women rose.

The tension broke, of a sudden, as a new sound came from the floor below.

Between the two big men the tension built and strained and broke.

The tension broke, and she heard a stranger's voice whispering in her skull.

The tension of several weeks at last broke, and he slept.