intense
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
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”).
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
intense (comparative intenser or more intense, superlative intensest or most intense)
- Strained; tightly drawn.
- 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.
- Extreme in degree; excessive.
- 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.
- Stressful and tiring.
- Very severe.
- Very emotional or passionate.
- The artist was a small, intense man with piercing blue eyes.
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
strained; tightly drawn
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extreme in degree
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Further readingEdit
- “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
AnagramsEdit
DutchEdit
PronunciationEdit
Audio (file)
AdjectiveEdit
intense
AnagramsEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
Inherited from Middle French intense. Ultimately from Latin intēnsus.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
intense (plural intenses)
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “intense”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
AnagramsEdit
InterlinguaEdit
AdjectiveEdit
intense (comparative plus intense, superlative le plus intense)
Related termsEdit
ItalianEdit
AdjectiveEdit
intense f pl
AnagramsEdit
LatinEdit
AdjectiveEdit
intēnse
Norwegian BokmålEdit
AdjectiveEdit
intense
Norwegian NynorskEdit
AdjectiveEdit
intense