intense English · revision 5565

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1400|origins=la intendere}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɪnˈtens/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|intense]] and directly from [[la|intēnsus|t=stretched, strained, tight]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) the past participle of [[m|la|intendere|t=to stretch out, strain]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) See [[intend]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The OED notes that Latin had already split the two past participles: intēnsus kept the physical sense “stretched”, while intentus came to mean mentally stretched, eager, which gave [[intent]].^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Of a quality or condition, very great or strong: about 1400 in the OED, before 1425 in Barnhart, the early 15th century in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Of mental action, strained or strenuous, is from 1645.^(OED 1989) Of persons, feeling deeply or highly strung, is from 1640 in the OED and the 1630s in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Of a thing with a quality in a very high degree, as an intense colour, it is from 1653.^(OED 1989) ''Intensity'' is from 1665, in Boyle, and ''intensify'' from 1817, in Coleridge.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1400 – very great, extreme.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1640 – of persons, feeling deeply.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1665 – ''intensity''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1817 – ''intensify''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Very great or strong; [[extreme]]: ''intense heat''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Showing strong feelings or great effort.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Having or showing deep, serious feelings: ''an intense young man''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[intensely]]

+ * [[intenseness]]

+ * [[hyperintense]]

+ * [[overintense]]

+ * [[superintense]]

+ * [[intensify]]

+ * [[intensity]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[intensifier]]

+ * [[intensive]]

+ * [[intend]]

+ * [[intent]]

+ * [[tense]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Intense and [[intensive]] overlap, but intense tends to describe a strength that comes from within, as in ''intense pleasure'', and intensive one imposed from outside, as in ''intensive training''.^(AHD) Collins notes that intense is sometimes wrongly used for intensive (''intensive cultivation''), and intensely for intently.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}