Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

intense

 
(ĭn-tĕns') pronunciation
adj., -tens·er, -tens·est.
  1. Possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to an extreme degree: the intense sun of the tropics.
  2. Extreme in degree, strength, or size: intense heat.
  3. Involving or showing strain or extreme effort: intense concentration.
    1. Deeply felt; profound: intense emotion.
    2. Tending to feel deeply: an intense writer.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin intēnsus, stretched, intent, from past participle of intendere, to stretch, intend. See intend.]

intensely in·tense'ly adv.
intenseness in·tense'ness n.

SYNONYMS   intense, fierce, vehement, violent. These adjectives mean of an extreme kind: intense fear; fierce pride; vehement dislike; violent rage.

USAGE NOTE   The meanings of intense and intensive overlap considerably, but they are often subtly distinct. When used to describe human feeling or activity, intense often suggests a strength or concentration that arises from inner dispositions and is particularly appropriate for describing emotional states: intense pleasure, intense dislike, intense loyalty, and so forth. Intensive is more frequently applied when the strength or concentration of an activity is imposed from without: intensive bombing, intensive training, intensive marketing. Thus a reference to Mark's intense study of German suggests that Mark himself was responsible for the concentrated activity, whereas Mark's intensive study of German suggests that the program in which Mark was studying was designed to cover a great deal of material in a brief period.


Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Fowler's Modern English Usage:

intense, intensive

Top

In the broad meaning 'existing in a high degree, extreme' as applied to feelings and qualities, intense is the word to use. (It also applies to people, in the sense 'apt to feel strong emotion'.) Intensive, which used to share aspects of the non-personal meaning of intense, is now reserved for the special meaning 'directed to a single point or objective, thorough, vigorous':
The country has suffered from intensive over-planning—Times, 1977.
Special applications include the terms intensive care (of medical treatment, in this form from the 1960s) and labour-intensive ('needing a large workforce', 1950s).

Previous:intend, intelligentsia, intelligent, intellectual
Next:intensifier, intention, inter alia
Roget's Thesaurus:

intense

Top

adjective

  1. Extreme in degree, strength, or effect: desperate, fierce, furious, terrible, vehement, violent. See big/small/amount, strong/weak.
  2. Intensely sustained, especially in activity: concentrated, fierce, heavy, heightened, intensive. See strong/weak.
  3. Resulting from or affecting one's innermost feelings: deep, profound, strong. See strong/weak, surface/depth.


adj

Definition: forceful, severe; passionate
Antonyms: calm, dull, low-key, mild, moderate

mod. serious; heavy.  Oh, wow! Now that's what I call intense!

Word Tutor:

intense

Top
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: Very strong or deep.

pronunciation What is allowed us is disagreeable, what is denied us causes us intense desire. — Ovid (43 BC-c. 18 AD), Roman poet.

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

  See crossword solutions for the clue Intense.
Translations:

Intense

Top

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - intens, intensiv, stærk, voldsom

Nederlands (Dutch)
intens, zeer gevoelig

Français (French)
adj. - intense, vif, sérieux

Deutsch (German)
adj. - intensiv, heftig, kräftig, stark gefühlsbetont

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - έντονος, τεταμένος, δυνατός, ισχυρός

Italiano (Italian)
intenso

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - intenso

Русский (Russian)
сильный, напряженный, впечатлительный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - intenso, fuerte

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - intensiv, häftig, våldsam, djup, innerlig, livlig, målmedveten

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
非常的, 紧张的, 强烈的

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 非常的, 緊張的, 強烈的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 격렬한, (색이)매우 짙은, 긴장한

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 激しい, 強烈な, 情熱的な

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) شديد, قوي, عاطفي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮עז, חזק, עמוק, רגשני, רציני, לוהט‬


 
 

 

Copyrights:

American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
 Fowler's Modern English Usage. Oxford University Press. © 1999, 2004 All rights reserved.  Read more
Roget's Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms by Answers.com. © 1999-present by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
McGraw-Hill Slang Dictionary. McGraw-Hill's Essential American Slang Dictionary. Copyright © 2007 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved.
eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; sign up free Read more
Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary. Collins Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary © Anne Bradford, 1986, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2008 HarperCollins Publishers All rights reserved.  Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

Follow us
Facebook Twitter
YouTube