intensive
/ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.06 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Making something more intense; intensifying.
adj
Making something more intense; intensifying.
adj
Involving much activity in a short period of time; highly concentrated.
adj
Of or pertaining to innate or internal intensity or strength rather than outward extent.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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."
- "I took a three-day intensive course in finance."
- "This job is difficult because it is so labour-intensive."
- "She was moved to the intensive-care unit of the hospital."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/
- British English: /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/