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intensive

in·ten·sive

US/ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/ fairly common
adjective (3) noun (1)

adjective

1.

characterized by a high degree or intensity; often used as a combining form

  • “the questioning was intensive”
  • “intensive care”
  • “research-intensive”
  • “a labor-intensive industry”
Similar
2.

tending to give force or emphasis

  • “an intensive adverb”
3.

of agriculture; intended to increase productivity of a fixed area by expending more capital and labor

  • “intensive agriculture”
  • “intensive conditions”
Antonyms

noun

1.

a modifier that has little meaning except to intensify the meaning it modifies

  • “up”
  • “finished up”
  • “;”
  • “in”
  • “t know”
Synonyms

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • capital intensive
  • for all intensive purposes
  • intensive agriculture
  • intensive animal farming
  • intensive care
  • intensive care unit
  • intensive farming
  • intensive plural

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.