Library / English Dictionary

INTENSIFY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: intensified   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become more intense

Example:

His dislike for raw fish only deepened in Japan

Synonyms:

deepen; intensify

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "intensify" is one way to...):

increase (become bigger or greater in amount)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "intensify"):

build (develop and grow)

redouble (make twice as great or intense)

break open; burst out; erupt; flare; flare up; irrupt (erupt or intensify suddenly)

condense (become more compact or concentrated)

sharpen (become sharp or sharper)

accelerate; quicken; speed; speed up (move faster)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

intensification (action that makes something stronger or more extreme)

intensity (high level or degree; the property of being intense)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make more intense, stronger, or more marked

Example:

This event only deepened my convictions

Synonyms:

compound; deepen; heighten; intensify

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "intensify" is one way to...):

increase (become bigger or greater in amount)

Cause:

deepen; intensify (become more intense)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "intensify"):

heat up; hot up; screw up (make more intense)

fan (make (an emotion) fiercer)

enhance; heighten; raise (increase)

amplify (increase the volume of)

sharpen (make crisp or more crisp and precise)

heighten; sharpen (make (one's senses) more acute)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

intensification (action that makes something stronger or more extreme)

intensifier (a modifier that has little meaning except to intensify the meaning it modifies)

intensity (high level or degree; the property of being intense)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Increase in extent or intensity

Example:

The Allies escalated the bombing

Synonyms:

escalate; intensify; step up

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "intensify" is one way to...):

increase (make bigger or more)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "intensify"):

redouble (double in magnitude, extent, or intensity)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

intensification (action that makes something stronger or more extreme)

intensity (high level or degree; the property of being intense)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make the chemically affected part of (a negative) denser or more opaque in order produce a stronger contrast between light and dark

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "intensify" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Domain category:

photography (the occupation of taking and printing photographs or making movies)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

intensification (the act of increasing the contrast of (a photographic film))

intensity (chromatic purity: freedom from dilution with white and hence vivid in hue)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The nocturnal visitor was a young man, frail and thin, with a black moustache, which intensified the deadly pallor of his face.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As he dangled from the hook it was exaggerated and intensified until he was scarce human in his appearance.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Meanwhile, fish oil intensified oxidation associated with ageing, lowered mitochondrial electron transport chain activity and altered the relative telomere length.

(Long-term consumption of sunflower and fish oils damages the liver, University of Granada)

Their analysis shows that condensation around tiny particles significantly increased cloud formation and warmed the surrounding air, intensifying the so-called deep convective cloud systems that are responsible for causing thunderstorms in the Amazonian tropics.

(Tiny pollutants intensify storms in the Amazon, SciDev.Net)

Violence of temper approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the family, and in my stepfather’s case it had, I believe, been intensified by his long residence in the tropics.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The weather factors that drive heat waves also contribute to intensified surface ozone and air pollution episodes, said UCI (the University of California, Irvine) professor of Earth system science Michael J. Prather, co-author of the study.

(Dangers of Concurrent Heat Waves, Air Pollution, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Most migraine sufferers know that light can intensify headache pain.

(How Light Boosts Migraine Pain, NIH, US)

Every breath exhaled by that monster seemed to have clung to the place and intensified its loathsomeness.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Now, although I had not received any express encouragement as yet, I fancied that I saw in the two little sisters, and particularly in Miss Lavinia, an intensified enjoyment of this new and fruitful subject of domestic interest, a settling down to make the most of it, a disposition to pet it, in which there was a good bright ray of hope.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

W concluded that music intensified the beneficial effects of the hypertension medication on the heart on the short term, said Vitor Engrácia Valenti, research coordinator and professor at the Unesp Speech-language Pathology Department.

(Music believed to boost hypertension treatment, Agência Brasil/EBC)