intense
Syllables: in·tenseUK/ɪnˈtɛns/
intense adjective: of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering.
Adjective
intense (comparative intenser or more intense, superlative intensest or most intense)
- Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering.
- Nor was I yet able to passe through any of the narrower streets, but kept the widest; the ground and air, smoake and fiery vapour, continu'd so intense that my haire was almost sing'd, and my feete unsufferably surbated.1666 September 16 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 7 September 1666]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition...
- […] Nature had a robe of glory on, / 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, […]1817 December (indicated as 1818), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, “Canto Third”, in Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth Century. […], London: […] [F]or...
- Of a thing: possessing some characteristic to an extreme or very high or strong degree.
- [T]h' intense atom glows / A moment, then is quenched in a most cold repose.1821, Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, […], Pisa, Italy: […] Didot; reprinted London: Noel Douglas […], 1927, →OCLC, stanza XX, page 13
- These pendent lamps and chandeliers are bright / As earthly fires from dull dross can be cleansed; / Yet could my eyes drink up intenser beams / Undazzled—this is darkness—when I close / These lids, i see far fiercer brilliances,— […]a. 1822 (date written), John Keats, “[Tragedies.] Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts.”, in [Horace Elisha Scudder], editor, The Complete Poetical Works and Letters of John Keats, Cambridge...
- Synonyms:
- hot
- Of feelings, thoughts, etc.: strongly focused; ardent, deep, earnest, passionate.
- intense study
- intense thought
- Of a person: very emotional or passionate.
- The artist was a small, intense man with piercing blue eyes.
- Fair Æsthetic (suddenly, and in deepest tones, to Smith, who has just been introduced to take her in to Dinner). "Are you Intense?"1879 June 14, [George du Maurier], “Refinements of Modern Speech”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume LXXVI, London: […] Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 270
- Under tension; tightly drawn; strained, stressed, tense.
intense meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
intense in Hindi
- extreme or very high or strong in degree
- प्रचंड pracaṇḍ, अतिमात्र atimātra
intense in Tamil
- தீவிரமான, கடுமையான, ஆழ்ந்த, ஆர்வமிக்க, செறிவான, முனைப்பான
intense in Marathi
- intense, fierce
- तीव्र tīvra
intense in Urdu
- intense
- تیز tez
More languagesFewer languages
- intense in Bengali
- ঝাঁজালো jhãjalō, দারুণ darun
- intense in Telugu
- తీవ్రమైన tīvramaina, అత్యంత atyanta
- intense in Malayalam
- കട്ട kaṭṭa
- intense in Kannada
- ಕಡು, ಬಿರುಸು, ಬಿರುಬು, ತೀವ್ರ
- intense in Punjabi
- ਸ਼ਦੀਦ śadīd, ਗੂੜ੍ਹਾ gūṛhā
- intense in Gujarati
- તીવ્ર tīvra
- intense in Odia
- ତୀବ୍ର
- intense in Sanskrit
- दारुण dāruṇa
- intense in Tagalog
- matindi
- intense in Arabic
- شَدِيد šadīd
- intense in Malay
- amat
- intense in Indonesian
- sangat, intens
Examples of intense in a sentence
- The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages.2013 June 29, “Floods in India: High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived...
- As the night came on the yellow stars grew more intense overhead, but the lambent glow in the north did not pale.1873, William Black, “The Princess Sheila”, in A Princess of Thule. […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 463:
- No mortall nature can endure either in the actions of Religion, or ſtudy of VViſdome, vvithout ſometime ſlackning the cords of intenſe thought and labour: […]1645 March 14 (Gregorian calendar), John Milton, Tetrachordon: Expositions upon the Foure Chief Places in Scripture, which Treat of...
- VVe found the Elector intenſe upon the ſtrengthening of his Army, […][1720], [Daniel Defoe], “Part I”, in Memoirs of a Cavalier: Or A Military Journal of the Wars in Germany, and the Wars in England; from the...
Synonyms of intense
24 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of intense
| comparative | intenser |
|---|---|
| comparative | more intense |
| superlative | intensest |
| superlative | most intense |
Origin of intense
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”)).
Words formed from intense
Phrases with intense
Words that rhyme with intense
Questions about intense
- What does intense mean?
- Intense means of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering.
- What is intense in Hindi?
- Intense in Hindi is प्रचंड (pracaṇḍ), अतिमात्र (atimātra). See Intense meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use intense in a sentence?
- The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages.
- What part of speech is intense?
- Intense is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce intense?
- Intense is pronounced /ɪnˈtɛns/ (UK).
Words near intense in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: intense (page history and authors); intense (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); तीव्र (Marathi) (page history and authors); تیز (Urdu) (page history and authors); ঝাঁজালো (Bengali) (page history and authors); കട്ട (Malayalam) (page history and authors); intense (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਗੂੜ੍ਹਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); તીવ્ર (Gujarati) (page history and authors); intense (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-intense.ogg.
Cite this entry: “intense.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/intense. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.