intensive
Syllables: in·tens·ive/ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/
intensive adjective: done with intensity or to a great degree; thorough.
Adjective
intensive (comparative more intensive, superlative most intensive)
- Done with intensity or to a great degree; thorough.
- Secondly, I continue to base my concepts on intensive study of a limited suite of collections, rather than superficial study of every packet that comes to hand.1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, “Preface”, in The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page...
- Antonyms:
- unintensive, nonintensive, superficial
- Being made more intense.
- Of agriculture: increasing the productivity of an area of land.
- Antonyms:
- extensive
- Of a word: serving to give emphasis or force.
- an intensive verb or preposition
- Ariſtophanes deriueth it [the word asp] from Alpha, an intenſiue Particle, and Spizo vvhich ſignifieth to extend; either by reaſon of his ſharpe-ſhrill hiſſing, or for the length of his body.1608, Edward Topsell, “Of Aspes”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: […], London: […] William Jaggard, →OCLC, pages 54–55
- Synonyms:
- intensative
- Antonyms:
- downtoning
- Involving much activity in a short period of time; highly concentrated.
- I took a three-day intensive course in finance.
- Of or pertaining to innate or internal intensity or strength rather than outward extent.
- Chiefly suffixed to a noun: using something with intensity; requiring a great amount of something; demanding.
- This job is difficult because it is so labour-intensive.
- Chiefly in intensive care: of care or treatment: involving a great degree of life support, monitoring, and other forms of effort in order to manage life-threatening conditions.
- She was moved to the intensive-care unit of the hospital.
- That can be intensified; allowing an increase of degree.
- As his [God's] Perfection is infinitely greater than the perfection of a Man, ſo it is infinitely greater than the perfection of an Angel; and vvere it not infinitely greater than the perfection of an Angel, it could not be infinitely greater than the perfection of a Man, becauſe the intenſive...a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, “Certain Objections against the Truths Formerly Delivered, and against the Reasons Given in Proof thereof, with Their Solutions”, in The Primitive Origination of...
- Synonym of intense (“extreme or very high or strong in degree; of feelings, thoughts, etc.: strongly focused”).
- Faſcination is the povver and act of Imagination, intenſiue vpon other bodies, than the bodie of the Imaginant; […]1605, Francis Bacon, “The Second Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for...
- The queſtion is in vvhat part of this Serpent the poyſon doth lye; Some ſay in the head alone, and that therefore the Bazeliske is deafe, bycauſe the Ayre vvhich ſerueth the Organe of hearing, is reſolued by the intenſiue calidity: but this ſeemeth not to bee true, […]1608, Edward Topsell, “Of the Cockatrice”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: […], London: […] William Jaggard, →OCLC, page 124
- Synonyms:
- intense
Noun
intensive (plural intensives)
- A thing which makes something more intense; specifically (linguistics), a form of a word with a more forceful or stronger sense than the root on which it is built.
- A course taught intensively, involving much activity in a short period of time.
- Beginning in 2014, ETSI [the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative] embarked on a six-year implementation phase at three monastic universities (Sera, Ganden, and Drepung). This program is composed of summer intensives taught by faculty from Emory and other institutions, year-round study led by on-site...2017, “Supporting Organizations”, in Wendy Hasenkamp, Janna R. White, editors, The Monastery and the Microscope: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on Mind, Mindfulness, and the Nature of Reality, New...
intensive meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
intensive in Tamil
- தீவிர, ஆழ்ந்த, செறிவான, விடாப்பிடியான தொடர்கவனம், முனைப்பியலான
intensive in Urdu
- گہرا, کامل, شدید کن
intensive in Bengali
- তীব্র, প্রচণ্ড, প্রগাঢ়
intensive in Telugu
- ఇంటెన్సివ్, ఇంటెన్సివ్గా
More languagesFewer languages
- intensive in Malayalam
- തീവ്രമായ, തീക്ഷ്ണമായ, വർദ്ധിപ്പിക്കുന്ന
- intensive in Kannada
- ತೀವ್ರವಾದ, ಗಾಢವಾದ, ಸಾಂದ್ರವಾದ, ಹೆಚ್ಚಾದ
- intensive in Gujarati
- સઘન
- intensive in Nepali
- सघन
- intensive in Arabic
- مُكَثَّف mukaṯṯaf, مُكَثَّفَة mukaṯṯafa
Examples of intensive in a sentence
- Mass is an extensive property, but density is an intensive property.
- The baby was placed in the neonatal intensive care unit.
- The hospital has established a pediatric intensive care unit.
Synonyms of intensive
Antonyms
Forms of intensive
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more intensive |
| superlative | most intensive |
| Noun | |
| plural | intensives |
Origin of intensive
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English intensive (“fervent, great, intense”), borrowed from Old French intensif, intensive (modern French intensif) + Middle English -ive (suffix meaning ‘of the nature of, relating to’ forming adjectives), equivalent to intense + -ive. Intensif is from Medieval Latin intēnsīvus, from Latin intēnsus (“attentive; eager, intent; intensive”) + -īvus (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘doing; related to doing’); and intēnsus is the perfect passive participle of intendō (“to stretch out, strain”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘to, towards’) + tendō (“to extend, stretch, stretch out”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tend- (“to extend, stretch”)). Doublet of intend. The noun is derived from the adjective.
Words formed from intensive
- biointensive
- capital-intensive
- capital intensive
- carbon-intensive
- energy-intensive
- for all intensive purposes
- hyperintensive
- hypointensive
- intensive agriculture
- intensive animal farming
- intensive care
- intensive care unit
- intensive farming
- intensively
- intensiveness
- intensive plural
- intensive pronoun
- intensive property
- intensive therapy
- intensive treatment
- intensivist
- labor-intensive
- labour-intensive
- neurointensive
- nonintensive
- nonintensively
- plural intensive
- power-intensive
- superintensive
- time-intensive
- ultraintensive
- unintensive
- work-intensive
Phrases with intensive
Words that rhyme with intensive
Questions about intensive
- What does intensive mean?
- Intensive means done with intensity or to a great degree; thorough.
- What is intensive in Tamil?
- Intensive in Tamil is தீவிர, ஆழ்ந்த, செறிவான. See Intensive meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is intensive?
- Intensive can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce intensive?
- Intensive is pronounced /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/ (UK).
Words near intensive in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: intensive (page history and authors); intensive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intensive (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intensive (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intensive (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); intensive (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intensive (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intensive (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); intensive (Nepali, 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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Cite this entry: “intensive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/intensive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.