What does "intensive" mean?

1. (thorough and concentrated) involving a lot of work, effort, or detail in a short amount of time. 2. (requiring much of something) needing a large amount of a specific resource, like money or workers. 3. (medical care) related to the part of a hospital for people who are very seriously ill. 4. (linguistic emphasis) a word or part of a word that makes another word stronger.

How do you use "intensive"?

Usually follows a noun with a hyphen, such as 'labor-intensive' or 'capital-intensive'.

intensive

adj. · n.

US //ˌɪnˈtɛnsɪv// UK //ɪntˈɛnsɪv// in·ten·sive

1 thorough and concentrated (adj.)
B2 Upper Intermediate

involving a lot of work, effort, or detail in a short amount of time.

characterised by a high degree of concentration, thoroughness, or effort within a limited timeframe.

Example

The students took an intensive one-week course to improve their coding skills.

Example

The diplomatic team engaged in intensive negotiations over the weekend to prevent the collapse of the trade agreement.
- relaxed
- superficial
2 requiring much of something (adj.)
C1 Advanced Academic Economics

needing a large amount of a specific resource, like money or workers.

requiring a high input of a specific factor or resource relative to other factors; typically used in hyphenated compounds.

Example

Fruit picking is a labor-intensive job because it must be done by hand.

Example

The transition to a green economy requires a shift away from carbon-intensive industries toward sustainable manufacturing processes.

Usage

Usually follows a noun with a hyphen, such as 'labor-intensive' or 'capital-intensive'.
- demanding
- heavy

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3 medical care (adj.)
B2 Upper Intermediate Medicine

related to the part of a hospital for people who are very seriously ill.

pertaining to the continuous and extremely close monitoring of patients with life-threatening conditions.

Example

He was moved to the intensive care unit after his heart surgery.

Example

The patient remained in intensive care for three days while the medical team monitored her respiratory function.
- critical
4 linguistic emphasis (n.)
C2 Proficiency Technical Linguistics

a word or part of a word that makes another word stronger.

a linguistic form, such as a prefix or suffix, that serves to increase the force or degree of the root word.

Example

In some languages, repeating a word acts as an intensive to show more power.

Example

The scholar argued that the prefix in this specific dialect functions as an intensive rather than a simple directional marker.
- intensifier

Origin

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English intensive (“fervent, great, intense”), borrowed from Old French intensif, intensive (modern French intensif) + Middle English -ive (suffix meaning ‘of the nature of, relating to’ forming adjectives), equivalent to intense + -ive. Intensif is from Medieval Latin intēnsīvus, from Latin intēnsus (“attentive; eager, intent; intensive”) + -īvus (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘doing; related to doing’); and intēnsus is the perfect passive participle of intendō (“to stretch out, strain”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘to, towards’) + tendō (“to extend, stretch, stretch out”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tend- (“to extend, stretch”)). Doublet of intend. The noun is derived from the adjective.

Word family

Adjectiveintensive
Adverbintensively