intense
Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering.
Adjective 4 meanings
Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering.
Of a thing: possessing some characteristic to an extreme or very high or strong degree.
Of feelings, thoughts, etc.: strongly focused; ardent, deep, earnest, passionate.
“intense study”
Of a person: very emotional or passionate.
“The artist was a small, intense man with piercing blue eyes.”
Etymology
From Late Middle English intens, intense (“ardent, fervent; extreme, great, intense”), borrowed from Old French intense (modern French intense), or directly from its etymon Latin intēnsus (“strained, stretched tight; intense; attentive; violent; (rare) eager, intent”), the perfect passive participle of intendō (“to stretch out, strain”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + tendō (“to extend, stretch”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tend- (“to extend, stretch”)).
Similar and opposite words
INTENSE at a glance
INTENSE has 7 letters and scores 7 points in Scrabble (I 1 + N 1 + T 1 + E 1 + N 1 + S 1 + E 1) and 9 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #3,628 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with intense
All rhymesOne letter away
- INCENSE9
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