ardor

[ahr-der]

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

1. fervency, spirit, earnestness, intensity.

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

Examples from the Web for ardour

Contemporary Examples of ardour

But Jack Scott came in and entered into the “game,” as he called it, with ardour.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the Show
Robert W. Chambers
February 20, 2014

Historical Examples of ardour

It is possible, my friend, that your ardour is a little compromising.
Little Dorrit
Charles Dickens
And so on, in all the spirit and ardour of that charming hymn.
The Letters of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Imogen, you are too beautiful—I have beheld you too long—I have admired you with too fierce an ardour.
Imogen
William Godwin
Her death did not weaken my resolutions nor slacken my ardour.
The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, Complete
Madame La Marquise De Montespan
It was in this ardour of spirit that he adopted the Romish cause.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 350, December 1844
Various

British Dictionary definitions for ardour

ardour

US ardor

noun

feelings of great intensity and warmth; fervour

eagerness; zeal

Word Origin for ardour

C14: from Old French ardour, from Latin ārdor, from ārdēre to burn

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ardour

chiefly British English spelling of ardor (q.v.); for spelling, see -or.

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.