intensive
adj.adj. involving a lot of effort, energy, or attention in a short amount of time. You use this to describe something that is very thorough and concentrated.
adj. characterised by a high degree of intensity, force, or concentration. Often describes activities or methods that focus significant resources or effort into a limited period or area.
She took an intensive English course this summer.
The patient is currently in intensive care following the surgery to ensure constant monitoring.
Agricultural experts recommend intensive farming techniques to maximise crop yields on smaller plots of land, though these methods require significant chemical and technological investment.
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.
Commonly precedes the noun it modifies. In medical contexts, it specifically refers to constant, high-level monitoring.