passionate

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin passionatus, past participle of passionare (“to be affected with passion”); see passion.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpæʃənɪt/, /ˈpæʃənət/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

passionate (comparative more passionate, superlative most passionate)

1. Given to strong feeling, sometimes romantic, sexual, or both.
2. Fired with intense feeling.
   • 1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon, and other Poems on several Occasions, Preface, in Samuel Johnson (editor), The Works of the English Poets, London: J. Nichols, Volume 31, 1779, p. 93,^[1]

     Homer intended to shew us, in his Iliad, that dissentions amongst great men obstruct the execution of the noblest enterprizes […] His Achilles therefore is haughty and passionate, impatient of any restraint by laws, and arrogant of arms.

3. (obsolete) Suffering; sorrowful.
   • 1596, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King John, II. i. 544:

     She is sad and passionate at your highness’ tent.

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, I. ii. 124:

     Poor, forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus,

Synonyms

• (fired with intense feeling): ardent, blazing, burning, dithyrambic, fervent, fervid, fiery, flaming, glowing, heated, hot-blooded, hotheaded, impassioned, perfervid, red-hot, scorching, torrid

Derived terms

• passionate friendship

Related terms

• passion
• passive
• passivity
• patience
• patient

Translations

fired with intense feeling

• Afrikaans: passievol
• Basque: sutsua
• Catalan: apassionat (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 多情 (zh) (duōqíng), 熾熱 (zh), 炽热 (zh) (chìrè), 熱情 (zh), 热情 (zh) (rèqíng)

• Czech: vášnivý (cs) m
• Danish: lidenskabelig
• Esperanto: pasia
• Finnish: intohimoinen (fi), kiihkeä (fi), tulinen (fi), palava (fi)
• French: passionné (fr)
• Galician: apaixoado, ardencioso m
• Georgian: ვნებიანი (vnebiani), მგზნებარე (mgznebare), ცხოველი (cxoveli), ფიცხი (picxi)
• German: leidenschaftlich (de)
• Greek: παθιασμένος (el) (pathiasménos)

  Ancient Greek: περιπαθής (peripathḗs)

• Haitian Creole: pasyone
• Hungarian: szenvedélyes (hu)

• Icelandic: ástríðufullur
• Irish: ainmhianach
• Italian: appassionato (it)
• Japanese: 熱烈 (ja) (netsuretsu)
• Korean: 불타는 (bultaneun)
• Latin: passionatus
• Maori: remurere, tūkaha, kohara
• Old English: hātheort, grambære, geallig, iersigendlic
• Portuguese: ardente (pt) m
• Romanian: înflăcărat (ro) m
• Russian: стра́стный (ru) (strástnyj), пы́лкий (ru) (pýlkij)
• Scottish Gaelic: dian, dìoghrasach, feargach
• Serbo-Croatian: žarki (sh) m
• Slovak: vášnivý
• Spanish: apasionado (es)
• Swedish: passionerad (sv), lidelsefull (sv)
• Vietnamese: đam mê (vi), dể giận

Noun

passionate (plural passionates)

1. A passionate individual.

Verb

passionate (third-person singular simple present passionates, present participle passionating, simple past and past participle passionated)

1. (obsolete) To fill with passion, or with another given emotion.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.xii:

     Great pleasure mixt with pittifull regard, / That godly King and Queene did passionate [...].

2. (obsolete) To express with great emotion.
   • 1607, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus, III. ii. 6:

     Thy niece and I, poor creatures, want our hands / And cannot passionate our tenfold grief / with folded arms.

Further reading

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

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Latin

Adjective

passiōnāte

1. vocative masculine singular of passiōnātus

References

• passionate in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)