ARDOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ardor mean? 

• ARDOR (noun)
  The noun ARDOR has 3 senses:

1. a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause)

2. intense feeling of love

3. feelings of great warmth and intensity

  Familiarity information: ARDOR used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ARDOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

ardor; ardour; elan; zeal

Context example:

he felt a kind of religious zeal

Hypernyms ("ardor" is a kind of...):

avidity; avidness; eagerness; keenness (a positive feeling of wanting to push ahead with something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Intense feeling of love

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

ardor; ardour

Hypernyms ("ardor" is a kind of...):

love (a strong positive emotion of regard and affection)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Feelings of great warmth and intensity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

ardor; ardour; fervency; fervidness; fervor; fervour; fire

Context example:

he spoke with great ardor

Hypernyms ("ardor" is a kind of...):

passion; passionateness (a strong feeling or emotion)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ardor"):

zeal (excessive fervor to do something or accomplish some end)

 Context examples 

He could not speak of that great country without ardor, and this ardor was infectious, for, ignorant as I was, he fixed my attention and stimulated my curiosity.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She had caught herself wondering what marriage was like, and the becoming conscious of the waywardness and ardor of the thought had terrified her.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The prince smiled at the martial ardor which shone upon every face around him.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her efforts in this line, however, were brought to an abrupt close by an untoward accident, which quenched her ardor.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"Here's fresh meat for your axe, Kreis," he said; "a rose-white youth with the ardor of a lover for Herbert Spencer. Make a Haeckelite of him—if you can."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

From fire to oil was a natural transition for burned fingers, and Amy fell to painting with undiminished ardor.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Tongue-tied by inexperience and by excess of ardor, wooing unwittingly and awkwardly, Martin continued his approach by contact.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Imagine her dismay, on stealing a glance of timid admiration at the poet whose lines suggested an ethereal being fed on 'spirit, fire, and dew', to behold him devouring his supper with an ardor which flushed his intellectual countenance.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Her prodigious innocence appalled him, freezing on his lips all ardors of speech, and convincing him, in spite of himself, of his own unworthiness.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

And in review would pass along the corridors of memory all previous thrills and burnings he had known,—the drunkenness of wine, the caresses of women, the rough play and give and take of physical contests,—and they seemed trivial and mean compared with this sublime ardor he now enjoyed.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)