intense

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Late Middle English intens, intense (ardent, fervent; extreme, great, intense),[1] borrowed from Old French intense (modern French intense), or directly from its etymon Latin intēnsus (strained, stretched tight; intense; attentive; violent; (rare) eager, intent), the perfect passive participle of intendō (to stretch out, strain),[2] from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + tendō (to extend, stretch) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tend- (to extend, stretch)).

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

intense (comparative intenser or more intense, superlative intensest or most intense)

  1. Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive.
    • 1666 September 17 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 7 September 1666]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, [], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, []; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, [], published 1819, →OCLC, page 396:
      Nor was I yet able to passe through any of the narrower streets, but kept the widest; the ground and air, smoake and fiery vapour, continu'd so intense that my haire was almost sing'd, and my feete unsufferably surbated.
    • 1817 December (indicated as 1818), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, “Canto Third”, in Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth Century. [], London: [] [F]or Sherwood, Neely, & Jones, []; and C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, []; by B. M‘Millan, [], →OCLC, stanza III, page 58:
      [] Nature had a robe of glory on, / And the bright air o'er every shape did weave / Intenser hues, so that the herbless stone, / The leafless bough among the leaves alone, / Had being clearer than its own could be, []
    • 1857, John Ruskin, “Lecture I”, in The Political Economy of Art: Being the Substance (with Additions) of Two Lectures Delivered at Manchester, July 10th and 13th, 1857, London: Smith, Elder and Co., [], →OCLC, section II (Application), page 48:
      [] Pietro di Medici then gave, at the period of one great epoch of consummate power in the arts, the perfect, accurate, and intensest possible type of the greatest error which nations and princes can commit, respecting the power of genius entrusted to their guidance.
    • 2013 June 29, “Floods in India: High and wet”, in The Economist[1], volume 407, number 8842, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2013-07-01, page 28:
      Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages.
  2. Of a thing: possessing some characteristic to an extreme or very high or strong degree.
  3. Of feelings, thoughts, etc.: strongly focused; ardent, deep, earnest, passionate.
    intense study    intense thought
  4. Of a person: very emotional or passionate.
    The artist was a small, intense man with piercing blue eyes.
  5. (also figurative) Under tension; tightly drawn; strained, stressed, tense.

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ intens(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ Compare “intense, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “intense, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

intense

  1. inflection of intens:
    1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
    2. definite neuter singular attributive
    3. plural attributive

Anagrams[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Middle French intense. Ultimately from Latin intēnsus.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

intense (plural intenses)

  1. intense

Related terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Interlingua[edit]

Adjective[edit]

intense (comparative plus intense, superlative le plus intense)

  1. intense

Related terms[edit]

Italian[edit]

Adjective[edit]

intense f pl

  1. feminine plural of intenso

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Adjective[edit]

intēnse

  1. vocative masculine singular of intēnsus

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Adjective[edit]

intense

  1. inflection of intens:
    1. definite singular
    2. plural

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Adjective[edit]

intense

  1. inflection of intens:
    1. definite singular
    2. plural