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

3. Extreme in degree; excessive.
4. Extreme in size or strength.
   • 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.

Related terms

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

 

Translations

strained; tightly drawn

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

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

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

• Greek:

  Ancient: σύντονος (súntonos)

• Ido: intensa (io)
• Irish: dlúth
• Italian: intenso (it)
• Japanese: 激烈な (ja) (げきれつな, gekiretsu-na), きつい (kitsui)
• 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

• Azerbaijani: gərgin
• Belarusian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: интензивен (bg) (intenziven)
• Catalan: intens (ca)
• Galician: intenso (gl) m
• 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)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: intensiv

  Nynorsk: intensiv

• Portuguese: intenso (pt)
• Romanian: intens (ro)
• Sanskrit: दारुण (sa) (dāruṇa)
• Spanish: intenso (es)

Further reading

• intense in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• intense in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• intense at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• enseint, sentine, tennesi, tennies

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

intense

1. Inflected form of intens

Anagrams

• niesten

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French

Etymology

From Middle French intense. Ultimately from Latin intensus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.tɑ̃s/

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

intense (plural intenses)

1. intense

Related terms

• intensif
• intensité

 

Further reading

• “intense” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• seinent, tiennes

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Interlingua

Adjective

intense (comparative plus intense, superlative le plus intense)

1. intense

Related terms

• intensitate

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Italian

Adjective

intense f pl

1. Feminine plural of adjective intenso.

Anagrams

• sentine

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Latin

Adjective

intēnse

1. vocative masculine singular of intēnsus

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Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

intense

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

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

intense

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