intensive

adjective

in-ˈten(t)-siv How to pronounce intensive (audio)
Definition of intensivenext
as in intense
extreme in degree, power, or effect Maintaining the house's expansive gardens requires intensive effort.

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of intensive The Power Cleaner performs a more intensive scan than the Quick Optimizer, with options to run optimizations automatically when the scan finishes and to shut down the system after optimization completes. — Neil J. Rubenking, PC Magazine, 30 Sep. 2026 Those rules were designed in part to protect the area from more intensive development. — Itay Hod, CBS News, 29 Sep. 2026 Over the last few months, neighbors in De Soto have been airing their concerns about high water usage, contamination and human health impacts due to the energy-intensive, 24/7 operations. — Taylor O'Connor, Kansas City Star, 27 Sep. 2026 Nuvadermis combines 40% urea with salicylic acid for an intensive treatment designed to soften thick, rough skin while exfoliating dead-skin buildup. — Danielle James, Glamour, 25 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for intensive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for intensive
  1. intense
  2. fierce
  3. ferocious
  4. deep
  5. terrible
Adjective
  • Through it all, Pi-o and Jeong-yo’s intense, often tender relationship serves as a throughline, bringing many viewers to question if the Netflix series qualifies as a boys’ love (aka BL) drama.
    — Kayti Burt, Time, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The Castle of Oia is also lovely—though the sunset-seeking crowds can be intense.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of intense
Adjective
  • The rare show of alignment among fierce rivals was soon countered by comments from Meta’s Zuckerberg and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, both of whom dismissed the slowdown idea.
    — Alyson Shontell, Fortune, 5 Oct. 2026
  • The book and series focus on the complicated romance of Canadian hockey prodigy Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Russian phenom Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), who are the fierce on-ice rivals and the league’s best players.
    — Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of fierce
Adjective
  • In the Atlantic, not a single hurricane has formed yet, a record for this late into hurricane season, due to ferocious wind shear brought on by El Niño.
    — Sean Macaday, Sacbee.com, 5 Oct. 2026
  • When the Heat acquired Giannis Antetokounmpo in June, the natural instinct was to focus on the prodigious point production (57th all time), the volume rebounding (71st all time), the thunderous dunks and the ferocious forays to the basket.
    — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of ferocious
Adjective
  • Democrats’ hopes rise in Texas Democrats are feeling newly optimistic about Texas, even in deep-red seats.
    — semafor.com, semafor.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Later, Mars trines Neptune in your 8th House, making deeper reflection feel more intuitive than analytical.
    — Tarot.com, Hartford Courant, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of deep
Adjective
  • Platforms prefill a name, email and phone number so a user can submit in one tap without leaving the feed, which is wonderful for a consumer promotion and terrible for a six-figure investment.
    — Jonathan Durante, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026
  • Saddled with terrible reviews and negative word-of-mouth, Tom Cruise‘s absurdist dark comedy has cratered at the box office with $8 million in North America and $20 million globally in its first weekend of release.
    — Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of terrible

Browse Nearby Words

intensity
intensive
intensively
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Intensive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/intensive. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
a cup of tea and a golf ball on tee side by side
Quiz: Sounds Like... Choose the word that sounds like it fits the clue...
See All