ardor
[ahr-der]
- 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.
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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
See more synonyms for ardor on Thesaurus.com1. fervency, spirit, earnestness, intensity.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ardour
Contemporary Examples
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 ShowRobert W. Chambers
February 20, 2014
Historical Examples
It is possible, my friend, that your ardour is a little compromising.
Little DorritCharles Dickens
And so on, in all the spirit and ardour of that charming hymn.
The Letters of Robert BurnsRobert Burns
Imogen, you are too beautiful—I have beheld you too long—I have admired you with too fierce an ardour.
ImogenWilliam Godwin
Her death did not weaken my resolutions nor slacken my ardour.
The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, CompleteMadame La Marquise De Montespan
It was in this ardour of spirit that he adopted the Romish cause.
ardour
US ardor
- feelings of great intensity and warmth; fervour
- eagerness; zeal
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Word Origin
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
ardor
n.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper