# intensity

Pronunciation: US say "in-TEN-si-tee" /ɪnˈtɛnsɪti/; UK

## Noun

1. The degree to which something is strong, powerful, or extreme.
   - Simple: A measure of how strong or powerful something is.
   - _The intensity of the debate grew as the evening wore on._
   - _Athletes adjust the intensity of their workouts from one week to the next._
2. The quality of being intense, marked by great force, concentration, or depth of feeling.
   - Simple: The state of being very strong, deep, or full of feeling.
   - _Critics praised the raw intensity of her performance._
   - _There was an intensity to his focus that no distraction could break._
3. A measure of an earthquake's severity based on its effects on the ground surface and on buildings at a given location, depending on distance from the epicenter and distinct from magnitude.
   - Simple: A measure of how strongly an earthquake shakes the ground and damages buildings in a place.
   - _Surveyors mapped the shaking intensity block by block after the tremor._
   - _Two towns reported very different intensity even though the magnitude was the same._
4. The time-averaged energy flux of a wave, equal to its average power per unit area.
   - Simple: How much wave energy passes through a given area each second.
   - _Engineers logged the intensity of the beam at several points along its path._
   - _Sound intensity falls off as the square of the distance from the source._
5. In optics, a general term covering any of several measured quantities of light.
   - Simple: In light science, a general word for how much light something gives out or takes in.
   - _The optics lab recorded the source's intensity at each wavelength tested._
   - _Designers specify the required intensity for a display's backlight._
6. In astronomy, a synonym for radiance: the radiant power leaving or reaching a surface per unit area and per unit solid angle.
   - Simple: In astronomy, the brightness of light coming from a surface in one direction.
   - _The model predicted how the intensity of the disk varies across its face._
   - _For a resolved source, the observed intensity does not change with distance._

## Origin

Formed from "intense" plus the suffix "-ity"; compare also Medieval Latin "intensitas".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/intensity (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).