intensity
Americannoun
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intensities
plural
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the quality or condition of being intense.
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great energy, strength, concentration, vehemence, etc., as of activity, thought, or feeling.
He went at the job with great intensity.
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a high or extreme degree, as of cold or heat.
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the degree or extent to which something is intense.
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a high degree of emotional excitement; depth of feeling.
The poem lacked intensity and left me unmoved.
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the strength or sharpness of a color due especially to its degree of freedom from admixture with its complementary color.
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Physics. magnitude, as of energy or a force per unit of area, volume, time, etc.
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Speech.
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the correlate of physical energy and the degree of loudness of a speech sound.
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the relative carrying power of vocal utterance.
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noun
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the state or quality of being intense
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extreme force, degree, or amount
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physics
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a measure of field strength or of the energy transmitted by radiation See radiant intensity luminous intensity
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I. (of sound in a specified direction) the average rate of flow of sound energy, usually in watts, for one period through unit area at right angles to the specified direction
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Also called: earthquake intensity. geology a measure of the size of an earthquake based on observation of the effects of the shock at the earth's surface. Specified on the Mercalli scale See Mercalli scale Richter scale
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of intensity
Explanation
The way he stared deep into her eyes was making her uncomfortable. For a first date, this was too much intensity. Intensity is the degree, volume, or magnitude of a thing, such as fire, emotion, weather, work, or passion. Intensity is a word sometimes associated with passion, fire, and violence. It's used when discussing the level of such things as a love affair or, perhaps, a flame. For example, the intensity of the relationship between Bergman and Bogart in Casablanca was very high. Likewise, meteorologists measure the intensity of tornados on the Fujita Scale. Some things are meant to show intensity, such as performance by a great musician. Other things, such as, say, a blanket...not so much.
Vocabulary lists containing intensity
Holes
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But a more recent Nature study published in 2025 found that the frequency of extreme fire intensity has fallen 35%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Even at a young age, there was a unique intensity about Luke, in particular.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
The intensity of the dark and milk chocolate aromas may not have been perfectly identical.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
Before the game against Atletico Madrid, Iraola was asked about how he sought to strike the right balance, with the intensity levels he craves and such a busy schedule.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Jonah narrowed his eyes at Katherine, who took a step back under the intensity of his gaze.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The research compared different exercise intensities in healthy older adults and found that all levels of exercise produced some fat loss.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 28, 2026
They had identified more than 90 hospitals exposed to shaking intensities beyond six and seven on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
He also found Gisèle de Lestrange, the French printmaker he married in 1952, a companion whose discipline steadied him but could not protect either of them from his intensities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Mythos — trained to perform deep, multistep reasoning at higher intensities than previous models — is exceptionally good at finding and exploiting vulnerabilities.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 18, 2026
If it were right, however, the model would also accurately predict the relative intensities of the various X-ray reflections.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
