Took one's seat in a tense atmosphere, we hear (3)
I believe the answer is:
sat
'took' is the definition.
(sit can mean to take an exam)
'one's seat in a tense atmosphere we hear' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'tense' could be 't' (abbreviation used in many dictionaries) and 't' is found within the answer.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sat that I've seen before include "Rested" , "Was in session" , "Relaxed" , "Took (examination)" , "Was couch potato" .)