The phrase hints at that "unresolved tension" between optimism and pessimism.

He'd been willing to work with her in a growing cloud of unresolved sexual tension.

But there remain deep and unresolved tensions that have only been exacerbated by the bloodshed.

Whatever direction the new Labour leadership takes the party, unresolved tensions within its education policies will need to be confronted.

A neurosis is a significant unresolved tension between these contending attitudes.

"The greater the unresolved tension in the divorce, the more of a loyalty conflict the child will feel."

Regardless, Hoppus felt betrayed on the side project and it would become an unresolved tension that followed the band for the following few years.

The standoff over the 2000 presidential election is handled with a better feel for unresolved tensions and contradictions.

One result was a palpable unresolved tension in both pieces, although they were very different.

We were currently in a strange place, filled with double entendre and unresolved sexual tension.