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intensity

[in-ten-si-tee]
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noun, plural in·ten·si·ties.
  1. the quality or condition of being intense.
  2. great energy, strength, concentration, vehemence, etc., as of activity, thought, or feeling: He went at the job with great intensity.
  3. a high or extreme degree, as of cold or heat.
  4. the degree or extent to which something is intense.
  5. a high degree of emotional excitement; depth of feeling: The poem lacked intensity and left me unmoved.
  6. the strength or sharpness of a color due especially to its degree of freedom from admixture with its complementary color.
  7. Physics. magnitude, as of energy or a force per unit of area, volume, time, etc.
  8. Speech.
    1. the correlate of physical energy and the degree of loudness of a speech sound.
    2. the relative carrying power of vocal utterance.
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Origin of intensity

First recorded in 1655–65; intense + -ity
Related formso·ver·in·ten·si·ty, nounsu·per·in·ten·si·ty, noun

Synonyms

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5. passion, emotion, energy, vigor.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for intensity

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • He wanted Avice Milbrey,—wanted her with an intensity as unreasoning as it was resistless.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • She spoke softly, but with an intensity of supreme feeling in her voice.

    Within the Law

    Marvin Dana

  • Yet, in the intensity of her utterance, the feeble whisper struck like a shriek of horror.

    Within the Law

    Marvin Dana

  • It is all Hamlet over again, Hamlet wrought up to a higher pitch of intensity.

  • No one ever felt this intensity of jealous rage about a mother or a sister.

British Dictionary definitions for intensity

intensity

noun plural -ties
  1. the state or quality of being intense
  2. extreme force, degree, or amount
  3. physics
    1. a measure of field strength or of the energy transmitted by radiationSee radiant intensity, luminous intensity
    2. (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 directionSymbol: I
  4. 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 scaleSee Mercalli scale, Richter scale
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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 intensity

n.

formed in English 1660s from intense + -ity. Earlier was intenseness (1610s). Sense of "extreme depth of feeling" first recorded 1830.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper