intense
adjective
Simple meaning
Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihntehnsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnˈtɛns
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering.
Of feelings, thoughts, etc.: strongly focused; ardent, deep, earnest, passionate.
Of a thing: possessing some characteristic to an extreme or very high or strong degree.
Of a person: very emotional or passionate.
also figurative
Under tension; tightly drawn; strained, stressed, tense.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering.
Used this way, intense is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use intense
- “The workout was so intense that my muscles are still sore today.”
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The amount of energy transmitted (as by acoustic or electromagnetic radiation).
Tending to give force or emphasis.
To a high degree.
In an intensive manner.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Collections with this word
Themed sets you can browse for free.
Use it yourself
Knowing “intense” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.