intensein‧tense /ɪnˈtens/ ●●○ W3 AWL adjective 
Young people today are under intense pressure to succeed. the intense heat of the desert The pain was so intense I couldn’t sleep. He took an intense interest in all religious matters. a look of intense dislike2intense activity is very serious, uses a lot of effort, and often involves doing a great deal in a very short time: The job demands intense concentration. At least 3,000 people were killed in a week of intense fighting.3someone who is intense is serious and has very strong feelings or opinions – used to show disapproval: She’s a little too intense for me.—intensely adverb: He disliked Kate intensely.COLLOCATIONSnounsintense pressure· The prime minister is under intense pressure to call a general election.intense competition· There is intense competition for places on the course.intense heat· He could feel the intense heat of the Egyptian sun.intense cold· He was shivering with intense cold.intense pain· She felt an intense pain in her right shoulder.intense pleasure· Anne read the letter with intense pleasure.an intense desire· Fred felt an intense desire to punch Max in the face.an intense interest in something· The police are aware of the intense interest in the case.intense dislike· He had taken an intense dislike to Robert.intense activity· The opening of the restaurant was preceded by a period of intense activity.intense debate· Abortion has become the subject of intense debate.intense negotiations· The hostages were freed after intense negotiations.intense scrutiny (=being examined very carefully)· The mining industry is coming under intense scrutiny over its environmental record.intense speculation (=a lot of guessing about what may have happened)· After weeks of intense speculation, the actress announced that she was pregnant.intense opposition· Locals have voiced intense opposition to plans to expand the airport.intense feelings/emotion· Her lips trembled with intense emotion.
WORD ORIGINintense
Origin:
1400-1500 French, Latin intensus, a past participle of intendere; ➔ INTENDEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- an intense conversation
- As we waited for the winner to be announced, the excitement was intense.
- Every car was stopped and searched, which caused intense annoyance to the drivers.
- He's a little too intense for me.
- It would give me intense pleasure to beat him at tennis.
- Some of these young people are under intense pressure to succeed.
- Very intense exercise may actually be bad for you.
Longman Language Activatora strong feeling/belief
· The subject of abortion always arouses strong emotions.· Stapleton has very strong views on capital punishment.· She had a strong urge to sell everything she owned and travel abroad.· The new police have received strong support from local residents.
a feeling that is intense is extremely strong: · It would give me intense pleasure to beat him at tennis.· As we waited for the winner to be announced, the excitement was intense.· Every car was stopped and searched, which caused intense annoyance to the drivers.
involving strong feelings, especially about what is right and wrong: · I remember many passionate arguments taking place around this table.passionate about: · He's passionate about the need to protect the environment.passionate believer/opponent/supporter etc: · Thatcher has always been a passionate believer in the ideals of a free market economy.
having a great effect on someone: · Jealousy is a very powerful emotion.· Her desire to hit him was so powerful that she had to force herself to leave the room at once.
a deep feeling is one that you feel very strongly, especially a feeling of love, disappointment, or sympathy: · I have always had a deep affection for your family.· The news came as a deep disappointment to us all.· Please accept our deepest sympathies. (=used when someone has died)
very strong and sincere: · Despite her troubled life she has always had a fervent belief in God.fervent admirer/supporter/believer etc: · Most of the people here are fervent supporters of self-determination.
formal very strong and sincere: · He was a man of strong beliefs and had always given ardent support to the Reform cause.· Even his most ardent supporters disagreed with this move.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYnouns There has always been intense rivalry between New Zealand and Australia.
· The prime minister is under intense pressure to call a general election.
· There is intense competition for places on the course.
· He could feel the intense heat of the Egyptian sun.
· He was shivering with intense cold.
· She felt an intense pain in her right shoulder.
· Anne read the letter with intense pleasure.
· Fred felt an intense desire to punch Max in the face.
· The police are aware of the intense interest in the case.
· He had taken an intense dislike to Robert.
· The opening of the restaurant was preceded by a period of intense activity.
· Abortion has become the subject of intense debate.
· The hostages were freed after intense negotiations.
(=being examined very carefully)· The mining industry is coming under intense scrutiny over its environmental record.
(=a lot of guessing about what may have happened)· After weeks of intense speculation, the actress announced that she was pregnant.
· Locals have voiced intense opposition to plans to expand the airport.
· Her lips trembled with intense emotion.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES (=strong competition)· There is stiff competition for places at the best universities.
(=very great concentration)· The job demands intense concentration.
· His disappearance had obviously aroused great curiosity.
(=in which people put forward strong and different arguments)· The future of the nuclear industry has been a matter of intense debate.
(=very strong dislike) His colleagues regarded him with intense dislike.
His colleagues regarded him with intense dislike.· Issues such as abortion arouse strong emotions.· The emotion was so intense that she spent most of the movie in tears.
(=a very strong feeling of excitement)· I can still remember the intense excitement of going to see my first football match.
· There was a strong feeling of anger among the workers.
(=when someone looks at someone or something with concentration)· His intense gaze never left Delaney.
(=hatred that is felt very strongly)· What, I wondered, had I done to provoke such deep hatred?
· She was in need of a cooling drink in the intense heat.
(=very great)· This tournament has created enormous interest.
· She was touched by her friend's fierce loyalty.
· The woman suffered from severe nausea and vomiting.
(=done with a lot of effort)· The agreement came after months of intense negotiations.
(=strong opposition)· It is certain that there will be fierce opposition to the changes.
· Ever since the accident, Mike’s suffered from severe back pain.
· There was strong pressure for a statement from the president.
There has always been intense rivalry between New Zealand and Australia. (=very careful scrutiny)· Both these areas of law have come under close scrutiny by the courts.
· The reason for his resignation was the subject of intense speculation.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· He replies: It's as intense as you want it to be.· While former executives say the rivalries remained as intense as ever, some joint programs were put in place.· The excitement of a group of horses galloping together with hounds at heel would be just as intense.· They are as intense a documentation of passion as I have ever seen in my life.· The internecine struggles over budgeting between the services is as intense as the battles between defence and social welfare programmes.
· There is a tendency for illnesses to become more prolonged, less intense and for the recovery to be slower.· Lockhart said preparation for the debate will be less intense than it was for the candidates' first meeting.· A floodlight will give a wider, less intense, cone-shaped light.· But it should be noted that the more successful these bands became, the more mellow and less intense their music got.· They can be more or less intense.· Identification includes much less intense and less exclusive attitudes.· Real love is calmer and less intense and more universal.· Staining was optimal after 18-24 hours of fixation, but less intense after more than 48 hours of fixation.
· The was particularly marked among former scheme port operators, where 67 percent reported more intense competition.· In the two decades since, those negative feelings have grown even more intense and widespread.· But the sun has now become more intense.· This is far more intense a challenge than contributing to debates about strategy and design.· The emotion felt, although heavily qualified, can be equally or even more intense, as for all second-order experiencing.· But does this necessarily imply more intense faith?· Everything was more intense, not just his emotions.· Dawson had been nursing a grudge even more intense than that of the others.
· Light is most intense along the central axis of each fan.· Often we produce just the opposite, because the affluent become the most intense users of the service.· Perhaps armies are the most intense evocation of this state of mind.· Traditional psychodynamic individual work is perhaps the most intense way to excise emotional malignancies that are getting in your way at work.· But not even Barnes could break down a Springbok side able to absorb the most intense pressure and punish every error.· As Reed suggests, the noisiest, most intense minorities can become a sort of visible public opinion.· Perhaps the most intense of my health service battles of the mid-1980s was over the selected list of drugs.· White said this has been his most intense camp, and that there are fewer worries entering the season.
· As spawning time approaches, the need for species identification becomes particularly intense.· Nor did he invent that particularly intense expression of yearning called speaking in tongues.· But at the present time the pressures seem to be particularly intense.· The field at these sites is particularly intense, as if the magnetic flux lines have been tied into tight bundles.· Closed systems are a particularly intense variety of coevolution.· Competition is particularly intense where supply and demand are quite unequal.· Not surprisingly this retentiveness suggests a further conclusion-that the Dubya campaign really is driven by a particularly intense dynastic dynamic.· Migraines are a particularly intense kind of vascular headache.
· The pain in the region of her heart was so intense that she wrapped her arms around herself involuntarily.· I think he was so intense because he was the only black platoon leader in our battalion.· It was so intense and we were both so strung up, uneasy about it.· Many said demand was so intense that they could find no stocks to buy.· No one could find out why this apparently healthy young woman suffered symptoms which were so intense and yet so varied.· He was so intense he could be intimidating at first.· An endless falling through time and space, and ecstasy so intense that she thought she would die.· And the engine heat was so intense we had to change the oil constantly, arid replace blown-out gaskets.
· Evening is a good time for friendships and romance, but do not be too intense.· She was too intense, he said.· Some found the conflict too intense and retired back to the closet, perhaps for ever.· Everything was too crazy, too intense.· I think her face is too intense for some one of her age.· It was too intense a time.· The plays they put on present stereotypes and are too intense.
· He's still very intense about the art, still loves his cricket with a passion.· It can become very intense when we visit actual caves.· Barnes is a very intense young man, in spite of his cheeky-chappy outward look.· There are a lot of feelings you go through that are very intense.· It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I lived for that owl during that very intense period of training.· He was very intense and very quiet at that time.· The human relationships are very intense and therefore the learning curve is accelerated.· And when the lights go on, McCoy is a very intense player.
NOUN· During the late 1970s the Sun went through a period of intense activity on its surface.· The boundaries of these plates are zones of intense activity.· There are, however, often specific periods of, usually, intense activity, followed by periods of inactivity.· A letdown was to be expected after the intense activities of high holy days.
· The was particularly marked among former scheme port operators, where 67 percent reported more intense competition.· Of course, there is intense competition among the London brokerage houses to signal their bids as fast as possible.· Obviously there is intense competition from banks and building societies. 5.· Adequate though not ideal for earlier times, they are thoroughly unsatisfactory in an era of intense competition.· In reality, the females are locked in fierce and intense competition.· To listen to Paul you would think there was an intense competition for class speaking time.· Between 200 and 300 new commercial stations could come on air in the 1990s and intense competition for advertising revenue is inevitable.· There was intense competition among companies to travel with Brown on his overseas trips, which frequently generated major deals.
· Since her words didn't appear to be an invitation to food, he returned his intense concentration to the man.· Steam-power meant a new and intense concentration of large-scale industry and of the labour force to man it.· He had a look of intense concentration for several seconds.· The alert, attentive mind, the intense concentration needed, is very demanding.
· The Thatcher government's policy, effected in the Broadcasting Act of 1990, provoked intense debate.· His approach has incited even more intense debate among Democrats.· These have been the subject of intense debate, with religious preferences sometimes intruding.· Yellowstone was threatened in 1883-4 by a plan to allow mining, but the park was saved after an intense debate.· The implications of this change have been the subject of intense debate since 1978.
· Second, he shows an intense dislike of his new position, and a continuing desire to resign.
· Three police officers who tried to save the children were beaten back by the intense heat and smoke.· Only exceptionally cloudy, boggy areas might survive the intense heat radiation from the reentering debris.· One of the friends, Manuel Cabrera, said he tried to grab Jamie but the intense heat drove him out.· All the surrounding countryside, scorched by the intense heat, is now in flames.· Conditions have been made worse by intense heat and the continuing drought.· Every tree was scorched or charred by a brief exposure to extremely intense heat.· Over the next four months, the weather veered from intense heat to snowstorms.· All archaebacteria thrive in intense heat, and most derive their energy from breaking chemical bonds.
· Most of the men preferred to avoid her glance, either gazing round the room or studying their shoes with intense interest.· The scarcity of housing here is mostly the result of the intense interest and enormous purchasing power of international buyers.· A new, exclusive product has shaken the climbing world and is attracting intense interest.· Few singers command such intense interest.· Both the council and the police were aware of the intense interest in the case.· In October, Castro visited New York and received intense interest from the media and the business community.· But such intense interest can work to the carer's advantage too.· They all expected each member of the staff to express - discreetly - particular and intense interest in their child.
· This provoked intense opposition, not least from her own family, in a militantly Hindu city like Kumbbakoman.· Still the plan met intense opposition.· Even in its planning stages there was intense opposition to the series.
· Or when George's toe struck a stone, giving him intense pain which he could hardly contain soundlessly.· The minute the sour flavor exploded in his mouth, slivers of intense pain filled his head.· Epicurus had a mundane philosophy yet despite suffering intense pain of the intestines, he enjoyed a blissful last day on earth.· A great longing to see his father's face had swept over him, filling him with a sudden, intense pain.· The tissue contains soluble proteins that cause intense pain and swelling, but which are rarely lethal to man.· What she has known most intimately these last years has been intense pain.· He'd suffered intense pain before his death.
· But not even Barnes could break down a Springbok side able to absorb the most intense pressure and punish every error.· Despite intense pressure and great temptation, they entered no wars.· Fleischmann and Pons believed that they had stumbled on another way - intense pressures provided by the natural make-up of solid palladium.· Rovers began to tire under intense pressure from the St Helens pack.· The Army and the police remained under intense pressure in the Jaffna peninsula where many camps and stations were under siege.· Following the disappointing returns in the World Cup, Richardson and his players had been under intense pressure.· Inside the embassy, conditions were said to be worse that ever, with intense pressure on sanitary facilities.· Reading cracked under intense pressure again after 69 minutes.
· The County Championship was a big meeting in those days, with intense rivalry between west and north London.· An intense rivalry was to be renewed between Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson in the short sprint.
· Far from privileging authorial discourse, such writing submits the figure of the author and his/her subjectivity to intense scrutiny.· Ventresca was under intense scrutiny regarding his qualifications for the job.· His intense scrutiny took in the shadowy and empty lengths of the corridor.· It's been a tough and bruising campaign, with the backgrounds of both candidates coming under intense scrutiny.· Mr Barry has been under intense scrutiny ever since.· All forms of regulation have come under intense scrutiny in recent years.· Without being aware of it she sighed, and became the subject of Niall's intense scrutiny.
· The reasoning behind the unpopular and disastrous resignation immediately became the subject of intense speculation.· How much money Simpson has is a matter of intense speculation and debate.· Outside Whitehall there was now intense speculation about what was to happen.· The brewing group has been the subject of intense speculation for decades.· Yet it is worth remembering that they were fuelled by intense speculation about her marriage.· The commencement of the trial ended a period of intense speculation that Barry would reach a plea bargain with the federal authorities.· Against her will Polly had found herself curious about the subject of such intense speculation.
WORD FAMILYnounintensityadjectiveintenseadverbintensely
1having a very strong effect or felt very strongly: Young people today are under intense pressure to succeed. the intense heat of the desert The pain was so intense I couldn’t sleep. He took an intense interest in all religious matters. a look of intense dislike2intense activity is very serious, uses a lot of effort, and often involves doing a great deal in a very short time: The job demands intense concentration. At least 3,000 people were killed in a week of intense fighting.3someone who is intense is serious and has very strong feelings or opinions – used to show disapproval: She’s a little too intense for me.—intensely adverb: He disliked Kate intensely.COLLOCATIONSnounsintense pressure· The prime minister is under intense pressure to call a general election.intense competition· There is intense competition for places on the course.intense heat· He could feel the intense heat of the Egyptian sun.intense cold· He was shivering with intense cold.intense pain· She felt an intense pain in her right shoulder.intense pleasure· Anne read the letter with intense pleasure.an intense desire· Fred felt an intense desire to punch Max in the face.an intense interest in something· The police are aware of the intense interest in the case.intense dislike· He had taken an intense dislike to Robert.intense activity· The opening of the restaurant was preceded by a period of intense activity.intense debate· Abortion has become the subject of intense debate.intense negotiations· The hostages were freed after intense negotiations.intense scrutiny (=being examined very carefully)· The mining industry is coming under intense scrutiny over its environmental record.intense speculation (=a lot of guessing about what may have happened)· After weeks of intense speculation, the actress announced that she was pregnant.intense opposition· Locals have voiced intense opposition to plans to expand the airport.intense feelings/emotion· Her lips trembled with intense emotion.