INTENSE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does intense mean? 

• INTENSE (adjective)
  The adjective INTENSE has 3 senses:

1. possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to a heightened degree

2. extremely sharp or severe

3. (of color) having the highest saturation

  Familiarity information: INTENSE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INTENSE (adjective)

Comparative: intenser   
Superlative: intensest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to a heightened degree

Context example:

enemy fire was intense

Similar:

main (of force; of the greatest possible intensity)

violent; wild ((of colors or sounds) intensely vivid or loud)

unabated (continuing at full strength or intensity)

deep; thick ((of darkness) densely dark)

terrific (very great or intense)

strong (not faint or feeble)

smart (painfully severe)

shitless; witless ((used as complement) to the utmost degree)

severe; terrible; wicked (intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or quality)

screaming (so extremely intense as to evoke screams)

raging (very severe)

profound (of the greatest intensity; complete)

palpable (so intense as to be almost touched or felt)

intensified (made more intense)

aggravated (made more severe or intense especially in law)

bad; big (very intense)

blood-and-guts (marked by great zeal or violence)

brutal; unrelenting (punishingly harsh)

cold (so intense as to be almost uncontrollable)

concentrated (intensely focused)

consuming; overwhelming (very strong; urgently felt)

deep (intense or extreme)

exquisite; keen (intense or sharp)

extreme; utmost; uttermost (of the greatest possible degree or extent or intensity)

fierce; tearing; trigger-happy; vehement; violent (marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions; inclined to react violently; fervid)

intensive (characterized by a high degree or intensity; often used as a combining form)

Also:

immoderate (beyond reasonable limits)

profound (showing intellectual penetration or emotional depth)

intemperate (excessive in behavior)

Attribute:

degree; grade; level (a position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality)

Antonym:

mild (moderate in type or degree or effect or force; far from extreme)

Derivation:

intensity (high level or degree; the property of being intense)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Extremely sharp or severe

Synonyms:

acute; intense

Context example:

intense itching and burning

Similar:

sharp (keenly and painfully felt; as if caused by a sharp edge or point)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(of color) having the highest saturation

Synonyms:

intense; vivid

Context example:

intense blue

Similar:

pure; saturated ((of color) being chromatically pure; not diluted with white or grey or black)

Derivation:

intensity (chromatic purity: freedom from dilution with white and hence vivid in hue)

 Context examples 

An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc.

(Two Significant Solar Flares Imaged by NASA's SDO, NASA)

A device that forms light into intense, narrow beams that may be used to cut or destroy tissue, such as cancer tissue.

(Laser, NCI Dictionary)

Intense painful sensation along a nerve or group of nerves.

(Neuralgia, NCI Thesaurus)

Without this mask, the faint light from the planet would be utterly overwhelmed by the intense brightness of PDS 70.

(First Confirmed Image of Newborn Planet, ESO)

But due to strong irradiation on the planet's daysides, temperatures there get so intense that water molecules are completely torn apart.

(Water Is Destroyed, Then Reborn in Ultrahot Jupiters, NASA/JPL)

Intense glucose therapy increased the risk of very low blood glucose (hypoglycemia) and required a higher level of care such as increased supervision from nursing staff, compared to standard treatment.

(Researchers get a handle on how to control blood sugar after stroke, National Institutes of Health)

“With what intense desire she wants her home,” was continually on her tongue, as the truest description of a yearning which she could not suppose any schoolboy's bosom to feel more keenly.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

This is because the neutron star’s intense magnetic field pulls the particles from the pulsar’s surface and accelerates them to nearly the speed of light.

(NASA’s Fermi Mission Links Nearby Pulsar’s Gamma-ray ‘Halo’ to Antimatter Puzzle, NASA)

It is characterized by intense otalgia and a cutaneous vesicular eruption.

(Herpes Zoster Oticus, NCI Thesaurus)

Neuropathic Pain Scale (NPS) Please use the scale below to tell us how intense your pain is.

(NPS - Tell Us How Intense Your Pain Is, NCI Thesaurus)