intension

See also: intensión

English

Etymology

From Latin intēnsiō (“straining, effort; intensifying”), from intēnsus (“stretched”), perfect passive participle of intendō (“strain or stretch toward”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɛnʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Homophone: intention

Noun

intension (plural intensions)

1. intensity or the act of becoming intense.
   • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     Sounds […] likewise do rise and fall with the intension or remission of the wind.

2. (logic, semantics) Any property or quality connoted by a word, phrase or other symbol, contrasted with actual instances in the real world to which the term applies.
   • 1859–1860, William Hamilton, edited by H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

     This law is, that the intension of our knowledge is in the inverse ratio of its extension.

3. (dated) A straining, stretching, or bending; the state of being strained.

   the intension of a musical string

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with intention.

Derived terms

• intensional

Related terms

• extension
• comprehension

Translations

intensity

• Bulgarian: напрежение (bg) n (napreženie), интензивност (bg) f (intenzivnost)

Venetian

Alternative forms

• intenzion

Etymology

Compare Italian intenzione

Noun

intension f (invariable)

1. intention, aim, purpose