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.

---

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

---

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

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

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

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

This mingles with Kâma, the passional nature, the passions and emotions thus becoming a part of Mind, as defined in Western Psychology.

From Death—and After? by Besant, Annie Wood

It became evident that the passional affinity which had drawn this rustic to the gypsy girl, and to the roads, was according to the law of natural selection, for they were wonderfully well matched. 

From The Gypsies by Leland, Charles Godfrey