# intensive

Pronunciation: say "in-TEN-siv" /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/

## Adjective

1. Involving a great deal of activity in a short period of time, and highly concentrated.
   - Simple: Packed with a lot of activity over a short time.
   - _The bootcamp offered intensive instruction, condensing months of material into ten days._
   - _Negotiators held intensive talks through the weekend to reach a deal before Monday._
2. Using or requiring a great amount of a particular resource; demanding, and often combined with the noun naming that resource.
   - Simple: Needing a large amount of something, such as work, money, or energy.
   - _Hand-finishing each piece makes the work intensive, swallowing far more hours than machine production._
   - _Software development is labor-intensive, with most costs going to skilled staff._
3. Done with great intensity or to a high degree; thorough and concentrated.
   - Simple: Done very carefully and completely, with a lot of effort.
   - _The committee conducted an intensive review of every contract from the past decade._
   - _Athletes follow an intensive conditioning program in the weeks before a championship._
4. Of care or treatment, involving a high level of life support, close monitoring and great effort to manage life-threatening conditions.
   - Simple: Used about medical care that gives constant, close attention to keep a very sick person alive.
   - _The newborn was placed under intensive care to stabilize her breathing._
   - _Burn victims often require intensive treatment to prevent infection and support failing organs._
6. Of a word: serving to give emphasis or added force to another element.
   - Simple: Used about a word that makes another word stronger, like 'very' or 'really'.
   - _Reflexive pronouns can act as intensive elements, as in 'the president herself signed it.'_
   - _The intensive adverb 'utterly' sharpens the force of the adjective it precedes._
7. Of agriculture: aimed at increasing the productivity of a given area of land through heavy inputs.
   - Simple: In farming, using lots of work and supplies to grow the most from the land.
   - _Intensive agriculture relies on heavy fertilizer use to maximize yields per acre._
   - _Critics argue that intensive farming damages soil over time._
9. Relating to inner or internal intensity or strength rather than outward extent or size.
   - Simple: Describing a quality that depends on the inner nature of something, not its size or amount.
   - _Physicists call temperature and density intensive properties, since they do not depend on the amount of material._
   - _Pressure is an intensive quantity, unchanged whether measured in a small or large container._
10. In the process of being made more intense or stronger.
   - Simple: Being made stronger or more intense.
   - _The debate turned intensive as both sides pressed their points harder._
   - _Under the steady heat, the reaction became intensive and harder to control._

## Noun

5. A short, concentrated course that packs much activity and learning into a brief period.
   - Simple: A short class that teaches a lot in just a few days or weeks.
   - _He enrolled in a summer writing intensive to finish his manuscript._
   - _The language school offers several intensives during the holidays._
8. Something that makes another thing more intense; in language, a word form carrying a stronger sense than the root it is built from.
   - Simple: A word or form that makes another word's meaning stronger.
   - _In some languages, an intensive is formed by reduplicating the root syllable._
   - _The suffix turns the plain verb into an intensive with a more forceful meaning._

## Adjective

11. Capable of being intensified; admitting an increase in degree. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Able to be made stronger or increased in degree.
12. Extreme, or very high or strong in degree; of feelings or thoughts, strongly focused. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Very strong or extreme, or deeply focused.

## Origin

The adjective comes from Late Middle English intensive, borrowed from Old French intensif and formed with the suffix -ive, equivalent to intense + -ive. It traces back through Medieval Latin intēnsīvus to Latin intēnsus ('attentive; eager; intensive'), the past participle of intendō ('to stretch out, strain'), from in- plus tendō ('to stretch'). It is a doublet of intend, and the noun is derived from the adjective.

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