passional

American  

[pash-uh-nl] / ˈpæʃ ə nl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or marked by passion.

2. caused or accompanied by passion.

   a passional crime.

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noun

1. a book containing descriptions of the sufferings of saints and martyrs, for reading on their festivals.

passional British  

/ ˈpæʃənəl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or due to passion or the passions

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noun

1. a book recounting the sufferings of Christian martyrs or saints

Other Word Forms

• transpassional adjective

Etymology

Origin of passional

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Medieval Latin passiōnālis; equivalent to passion + -al ¹; noun derivative of the adjective

Example Sentences

But the pursuit of beauty, the attainment by "great souls" of the maximum "passional love," still seemed to him "the wonder of civilization."

From Time Magazine Archive

The most obvious reason for the revival of interest in his work is that the "passional" experience of religion�as Schleiermacher called it�makes more sense to modern man than a purely intellectual one.

From Time Magazine Archive

After I had learned other ways of life I used to brood upon the unconscious irony of those who felt that Negroes led so passional an existence!

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

A long line is more stately, a short line more abrupt, passional, and intense.

From Browning and the Dramatic Monologue by Curry, S. S. (Samuel Silas)

He saw Rome the giant, the stone and earth of her, the vast animal life of her, the vast passional, the mental clutch and hammer-blow.

From Foes by Johnston, Mary