intensive

English Online Dictionary. What means intensive‎? What does intensive mean?

English

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/
• Rhymes: -ɛnsɪv
• Hyphenation: in‧tens‧ive

Adjective

intensive (comparative more intensive, superlative most intensive)

1. Done with intensity or to a great degree; thorough.

   Antonyms: unintensive, nonintensive, superficial
2. Being made more intense.
3. Making something more intense; intensifying.
   1. (agriculture, economics) Of agriculture: increasing the productivity of an area of land.

      Antonym: extensive

   3. (linguistics) Of a word: serving to give emphasis or force.

      Synonym: intensative
4. Involving much activity in a short period of time; highly concentrated.

5. Of or pertaining to innate or internal intensity or strength rather than outward extent.
6. Chiefly suffixed to a noun: using something with intensity; requiring a great amount of something; demanding.
   1. (medicine) 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.

7. (obsolete)
   1. That can be intensified; allowing an increase of degree.
   2. Synonym of intense (“extreme or very high or strong in degree; of feelings, thoughts, etc.: strongly focused”)

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• extensive

Noun

intensive (plural intensives)

1. 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.
2. (education) A course taught intensively, involving much activity in a short period of time.

Translations

References

Further reading

• intensive and extensive properties on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• intensive farming on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• intensive word form on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “intensive”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Veintines

French

Pronunciation

Adjective

intensive

1. feminine singular of intensif

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

intensive

1. inflection of intensiv:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

intensive f pl

1. feminine plural of intensivo

Anagrams

• inveniste

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

intensive

1. inflection of intensiv:
   1. definite singular
   2. plural

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

intensive

1. inflection of intensiv:
   1. definite singular
   2. plural

Swedish

Adjective

intensive

1. definite natural masculine singular of intensiv