intensity

[ in-ten-si-tee ]

/ ɪnˈtɛn sɪ ti /

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noun, plural in·ten·si·ties.

the quality or condition of being intense.

great energy, strength, concentration, vehemence, etc., as of activity, thought, or feeling: He went at the job with great intensity.

a high or extreme degree, as of cold or heat.

the degree or extent to which something is intense.

a high degree of emotional excitement; depth of feeling: The poem lacked intensity and left me unmoved.

the strength or sharpness of a color due especially to its degree of freedom from admixture with its complementary color.

Physics. magnitude, as of energy or a force per unit of area, volume, time, etc.

Speech.

the correlate of physical energy and the degree of loudness of a speech sound.
the relative carrying power of vocal utterance.

OTHER WORDS FOR intensity

5 passion, emotion, energy, vigor.

See synonyms for intensity on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of intensity

First recorded in 1655–65; intense + -ity

OTHER WORDS FROM intensity

o·ver·in·ten·si·ty, nounsu·per·in·ten·si·ty, noun

Words nearby intensity

intensify, intension, intensional, intensional object, intensitometer, intensity, intensive, intensive care, intensive care unit, intent, intention

How to use intensity in a sentence

It’s controlled with a simple power switch, and it offers two brew time options for custom coffee intensity.
The best quick-brew coffee machines|PopSci Commerce Team|September 10, 2020|Popular-Science
Either way, if you multiply duration by intensity for each day’s session, you get a measure of “training impulse” that carries a lot more information than mileage alone.
Stop Counting Your Running Mileage|Alex Hutchinson|August 28, 2020|Outside Online
What made this one significant and unusual was its intensity and scale — and, Czarnetzki notes, the fact that it took even researchers by surprise.
What’s behind August 2020’s extreme weather? Climate change and bad luck|Carolyn Gramling|August 27, 2020|Science News
The hind leg ST36, on the other hand, is a total champion at culling inflammation, but only if you zap it with a lighter intensity.
We Need New, Safer Ways to Treat Pain. Could Electroacupuncture Be One?|Shelly Fan|August 18, 2020|Singularity Hub

These voters developed a new intensity of engagement with politics in the first national presidential election when the major party candidates took clear and differing positions on the issue of LGBTQ rights.
‘Silence = Death, VOTE’|Jeff Trammell and Charles Francis|August 8, 2020|Washington Blade
White and Crandall agree that low-intensity workouts are ideal.
5 Hangover Cures to Save You After a Few Too Many|DailyBurn|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He was just seamlessly being this person—the ferocity and intensity was incredible.
The Brit Who Stormed Broadway|Tim Teeman|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Amina Alzouma (“Young Girl”) surprised us all with her disturbingly beautiful displays of vulnerability and intensity.
Nitehawk Shorts Festival: ‘Brute,’ a Twisted Take on Playing in the Dark|Julia Grinberg|November 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“You are bringing someone into an atmosphere of intensity, and adding a lot of pressure to a first-time meeting,” says Berman.
How to Make It Through Thanksgiving Alive|Lizzie Crocker|November 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
How Ragsdale can live with all this day-in-day-out intensity from strangers is baffling.
Sex, Suicide, and Homework: The Secret World of the Telephone Hotline|Tim Teeman|November 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The intensity of his sensations seemed inexplicable, unless some reality, some truth, lay behind them.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
The intensity of this drama, however, being interior, caused little outward disturbance that casual onlookers need have noticed.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
They glittered and shone with an intensity of colour which surpassed even those of the rainbow.
A Woman's Journey Round the World|Ida Pfeiffer
The complaints increased in number and intensity and Members of Parliament and newspaper writers joined in the jeremiad.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland|Joseph Tatlow
A fiery intensity of light lay over it, as though any moment it must burst into sheets of flame.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood

British Dictionary definitions for intensity

intensity

/ (ɪnˈtɛnsɪtɪ) /

noun plural -ties

the state or quality of being intense

extreme force, degree, or amount

physics

a measure of field strength or of the energy transmitted by radiationSee radiant intensity, luminous intensity
(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

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

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

intensity

OTHER WORDS FOR intensity

Origin of intensity

OTHER WORDS FROM intensity

Words nearby intensity

Words related to intensity

How to use intensity in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for intensity