intense

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French intense, from Latin intensus (“stretched tight”), past participle of intendere (“to stretch out”), from in (“in, upon, to”) + tendere (“to stretch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɛns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛns

Adjective

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

1. Strained; tightly drawn.
2. Strict, very close or earnest.

   intense study;  intense thought

   • 1828, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XX, in Pelham; or, The Adventures of a Gentleman. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 196:

     I rose by candle-light, and consumed, in the intensest application, the hours which every other individual of our party wasted in enervating slumbers, from the hesternal dissipation or debauch.

   • 1886, Annie Besant, Life, Death, and Immortality, London: Freethought Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, page 3:

     Of all the questions which, throughout the centuries, have escaped from the lips of man, there is none which has been asked with such persistence, none which has possessed interest more perennial, than "Whence do I come? Whither shall I go?" Man's origin, man's hereafter, have ever been of intensest interest to man.

3. Extreme in degree; excessive.
4. Extreme in size or strength.
   • 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “(please specify the page)”, in The Revolt of Islam; […], London: […] [F]or C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B. M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

     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 […]

   • 2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, 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.

5. Stressful and tiring.
6. Very severe.
7. Very emotional or passionate.

   The artist was a small, intense man with piercing blue eyes.

Derived terms

• intensely
• intensen
• intenseness
• intensification
• intensify
• intensity

 

Related terms

• intensive

Translations

strained; tightly drawn

• Azerbaijani: gərgin
• Basque: bizi
• Belarusian: інтэнсы́ўны (intensýŭny)
• Bulgarian: напрегнат (bg) (napregnat)
• Catalan: intens (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 劇烈／剧烈 (zh) (jùliè), 激烈 (zh) (jīliè)

• Czech: intenzivní (cs), silný (cs), vášnivý (cs)
• Dutch: intens (nl)
• Finnish: intensiivinen (fi), äärimmäinen (fi), kova (fi)
• French: intense (fr)
• Galician: intenso (gl) m
• German: intensiv (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: σύντονος (súntonos)

• Ido: intensa (io)
• Indonesian: intens (id)
• Irish: dlúth
• Italian: intenso (it)
• Japanese: 激烈な (ja) (げきれつな, gekiretsu-na), きつい (kitsui)
• Polish: intensywny (pl)
• Portuguese: tenso (pt)
• Romanian: intens (ro)
• Russian: интенси́вный (ru) (intensívnyj), напряжённый (ru) (naprjažónnyj)
• Spanish: intenso (es)
• Turkish: yoğun (tr)
• Ukrainian: інтенси́вний (intensývnyj)
• Welsh: dwys (cy)

extreme in degree

• Arabic: شَدِيد‎ m (šadīd)
• Azerbaijani: gərgin
• Belarusian: моцны (be) (mócny), празмерны (prazmjerny)
• Bulgarian: интензивен (bg) (intenziven)
• Catalan: intens (ca)
• Finnish: ylenpalttinen (fi), hurja (fi), ääri-, yletön (fi), huima, huikea (fi), kova (fi), raju (fi)
• Galician: intenso (gl) m
• German: hochgradig (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: σφοδρός (sphodrós), σύντονος (súntonos)

• Irish: dian, dian-, tréan-, an-
• Italian: intenso (it)
• Malay: amat
• Maori: kitakita (of colour), tīwerawera (of noise, sound), mātaratara (of cold), ngoto (referring to emotions)
• Middle English: sad, stith
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: intensiv

  Nynorsk: intensiv

• Portuguese: intenso (pt)
• Romanian: intens (ro)
• Russian: сильный (ru) (silʹnyj), чрезмерный (ru) (črezmernyj)
• Sanskrit: दारुण (sa) (dāruṇa)
• Spanish: intenso (es)

Further reading

• “intense”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “intense”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• intense at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• enseint, sentine, tennesi, tennies

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

intense

1. Inflected form of intens

Anagrams

• niesten

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French intense. Ultimately from Latin intēnsus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.tɑ̃s/

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

intense (plural intenses)

1. intense

Related terms

• intensément
• intensif
• intensification
• intensifier
• intensité
• intensivement

 

Further reading

• “intense”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• seinent, tiennes

Interlingua

Adjective

intense (comparative plus intense, superlative le plus intense)

1. intense

Related terms

• intensitate

Italian

Adjective

intense f pl

1. feminine plural of intenso

Anagrams

• sentine, tensine

Latin

Adjective

intēnse

1. vocative masculine singular of intēnsus

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

intense

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

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

intense

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