intensifying

Pluralintensifyings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of intensify.

   The debate grew heated, the disagreement intensifying with every exchange.

   Critics warned that the new policy was intensifying tensions across the region.

   Note

   The -ing form carries both halves of intensify. It can be transitive, where something strengthens something else (a policy intensifying tensions). It can also be intransitive, where a thing grows stronger on its own (a disagreement intensifying). The y of intensify stays before -ing, so the spelling is intensifying, not intensifing. Only the countable noun takes a plural: intensifyings.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   An act or instance of making something more intense or stronger; an intensification.

   The gradual intensifying of competition forced several smaller firms out of business.

   Doctors noted a marked intensifying of the patient's symptoms over several days.

   Similarescalation, intensification, heightening, strengthening, worsening

   Oppositelessening, easing

   Note

   The noun can be counted and made plural, which sets it apart from the verbal -ing form: intensifyings are separate acts, not one continuing process. The American Amateur Photographer of 1892 uses it this way in darkroom advice, recommending development for detail followed by "subsequent intensifyings." In the singular it usually takes the and an of-phrase: the intensifying of competition.

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