passion

American  

[pash-uhn] / ˈpæʃ ən /

noun

1. any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.

   Antonyms:

   apathy

2. strong amorous feeling or desire; love; affection.

3. strong sexual desire; lust.

4. an instance or experience of strong love or sexual desire.

5. a person toward whom one feels strong love or sexual desire.

6. a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything.

   a passion for music.

   Synonyms:

   ardor, zeal, fervor

7. the object of such a fondness or desire.

   Accuracy became a passion with him.

8. an outburst of strong emotion or feeling.

   He suddenly broke into a passion of bitter words.

9. violent anger.

   Synonyms:

   rage, wrath, fury, ire

10. the state of being acted upon or affected by something external, especially something alien to one's nature or one's customary behavior (action ).

11. (often initial capital letter)

    1. the sufferings of Christ on the cross or His sufferings subsequent to the Last Supper.

    2. the narrative of Christ's sufferings as recorded in the Gospels.

12. Archaic. the sufferings of a martyr.

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passion ¹ British  

/ ˈpæʃən /

noun

1. ardent love or affection

2. intense sexual love

3. a strong affection or enthusiasm for an object, concept, etc

   a passion for poetry

4. any strongly felt emotion, such as love, hate, envy, etc

5. a state or outburst of extreme anger

   he flew into a passion

6. the object of an intense desire, ardent affection, or enthusiasm

7. an outburst expressing intense emotion

   he burst into a passion of sobs

8. philosophy

   1. any state of the mind in which it is affected by something external, such as perception, desire, etc, as contrasted with action

   2. feelings, desires or emotions, as contrasted with reason

9. the sufferings and death of a Christian martyr

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Passion ² British  

/ ˈpæʃən /

noun

1. the sufferings of Christ from the Last Supper to his death on the cross

2. any of the four Gospel accounts of this

3. a musical setting of this

   the St Matthew Passion

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Usage

What are other ways to say passion?

Passion refers to any powerful emotion or feeling, such as love or hate. When should you use this noun over feeling, emotion, or sentiment? Find out on Thesaurus.com.

Other Word Forms

• passionful adjective
• passionfully adverb
• passionfulness noun
• passionlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of passion

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin passiōn-, stem of passiō “Christ's sufferings on the cross,” any of the Biblical accounts of these, special use of Late Latin passiō “suffering, submission,” equivalent to Latin pass(us), past participle of patī “to suffer, submit” + -iō -ion; patient ( def. )

Example Sentences

This affair with Rodin, who was 35 years her senior, ended before World War One, and she channelled some of her passion to the spiritual, embracing Catholicism and being received into the church.

From BBC

Italy played with more passion and pace in the first 15 minutes and Scotland struggled to find any kind of response.

From BBC

She made a decent living, even if the job wasn’t a passion.

From The Wall Street Journal

"I knew I wanted to go into nursing and help people with mental health and help people go through what I went through. I had that passion to hopefully make a difference."

From BBC

"Flying was his passion. He was on the brink of beginning an exciting new chapter with a commercial airline, a dream he had worked toward with immense pride and determination."

From BBC

Related Words

• affection
• anger
• ardor
• dedication
• devotion
• excitement
• feeling
• fervor
• fury
• intensity
• joy
• rage
• resentment
• sentiment
• spirit
• temper
• warmth
• zeal