ardor

[ahr-der]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ardor ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

great warmth of feeling; fervor; passion: She spoke persuasively and with ardor.

intense devotion, eagerness, or enthusiasm; zeal: his well-known ardor for Chinese art.

burning heat.

Also especially British, ar·dour.

Origin of ardor

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin, equivalent to ārd(ēre) to burn + -or -or¹; replacing Middle English ardure < Old French ardur < Latin, as above; 17th century ardour < Anglo-French < Latin, as above

Synonyms for ardor

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ardor ON THESAURUS.COM

1. fervency, spirit, earnestness, intensity.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for ardor

eagerness, zeal, earnestness, intensity, passion, fervor, warmth, zing, zest, avidity, fire, weakness, jazz, gusto, keenness, heat, vehemence, oomph, verve, fierceness

Examples from the Web for ardor

Contemporary Examples of ardor

In the end, talent and technique got the better of ardor and audacity.
Team USA Goes Down Swinging in 2-1 World Cup Loss to Belgium
Tunku Varadarajan
July 1, 2014
Though they look like little potsers and nudniks—wise men of Chelm—they are made vibrant by the ardor of their claims.
Smoked Fish Surrealism: Ben Katchor’s Comics of NYC Neurotics
Jacob Siegel
March 16, 2013
Primary voters have two qualities by which they operate: ardor and calculation.
The GOP's Post-Palin Comedown
Michael Tomasky
October 6, 2011
The GOP had its ardor candidates, like Pat Buchanan in 1992, but they were understood to be temporary phenomena or unelectable.
The GOP's Post-Palin Comedown
Michael Tomasky
October 6, 2011
I wish that the ardor for information on our jobs initiative would be as strong as it is on this other subject.
What’s Next for Weiner?
Jill Lawrence
June 17, 2011

Historical Examples of ardor

The ardor of Mr. Gladstone's feelings on this subject is notorious.
The Grand Old Man
Richard B. Cook
Man-like, hot with the ardor of the chase, he was deaf and blind to all else.
The Black Bag
Louis Joseph Vance
This feeling, be it understood, in no wise chilled my ardor.
The Room in the Dragon Volant
J. Sheridan LeFanu
He had been prepared for it, and to resist it, and break it down by the ardor of his appeal.
The Law-Breakers
Ridgwell Cullum
It was a problem which he debated with an ardor that had in it something of passion.
A Spirit in Prison
Robert Hichens

Word Origin and History for ardor

early 15c., "heat of passion or desire," from Old French ardure "heat, glow; passion" (12c.), from Latin ardorem (nominative ardor) "a flame, fire, burning, heat;" also of feelings, etc., "eagerness, zeal," from ardere "to burn" (see ardent). In Middle English, used of base passions; since Milton's time, of noble ones.