Lark felt a knot of tension release.

It came as an even better tension release than beating Akachin's head against a bulkhead until the knowledge she wanted popped out of it.

Recognizing the talk as tension release, I made reassuring sounds but said little.

STEVE: Got to have a tension release every so often.

All we know for sure is that it's nothing so simplistic as tension release... or almost never just that.

The tension release was welcome, almost too much so.

They insisted that it was more of a job-related tension release than a case of overactive egos, as if this made the behavior all right.

During times of economic and political stability, on-the-field sports violence allows for tension release, through vicarious identification with the aggressor.