intensive

UK: /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/ US: /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/ ,(in ten′siv)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

in•ten•sive /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/   adj. 

1. of or characterized by intensity:
   The witness had to undergo intensive questioning.
2. This word is used after nouns and other roots to mean "requiring or having a high amount or concentration of'' the quality or element mentioned:
   labor-intensive (= requiring a high amount of labor).
3. Grammar (of a grammatical form or construction) showing increased emphasis or force:
   The adverb certainly is an intensive adverb. In the sentence I did it myself the pronoun myself is an intensive pronoun but in the sentence I hurt myself the word myself is a reflexive pronoun.

n. [countable]

4. Grammar an intensive form or construction.

in•ten•sive•ly, adv. 
in•ten•sive•ness, n. [uncountable] See -tend-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

in•ten•sive  (in ten′siv), adj. 

1. of, pertaining to, or characterized by intensity:
   intensive questioning.
2. tending to intensify;
   intensifying.
3. Medicine
   • increasing in intensity or degree.
   • instituting treatment to the limit of safety.
4. noting or pertaining to a system of agriculture involving the cultivation of limited areas, and relying on the maximum use of labor and expenditures to raise the crop yield per unit area (opposed to extensive).
5. requiring or having a high concentration of a specified quality or element (used in combination):
   Coal mining is a labor-intensive industry.
6. Grammar indicating increased emphasis or force. Certainly is an intensive adverb. Myself in I did it myself is an intensive pronoun.

n. 

7. something that intensifies.
8. Grammar an intensive element or formation, as -self in himself, or Latin -tō in iac-tō, "I hurl'' from iacō, "I throw.''

• Medieval Latin intēnsīvus. See intense, -ive
• late Middle English 1400–50

in•ten′sive•ly, adv. 
in•ten′sive•ness, n. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

intensive / ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/ adjective

1. involving the maximum use of land, time, or some other resource: intensive agriculture, an intensive course
2. (usually in combination) using one factor of production proportionately more than others, as specified: capital-intensive, labour-intensive
3. involving or farmed using large amounts of capital or labour to increase production from a particular area
   Compare extensive3
4. denoting or relating to a grammatical intensifier
5. denoting or belonging to a class of pronouns used to emphasize a noun or personal pronoun, such as himself in the sentence John himself did it. In English, intensive pronouns are identical in form with reflexive pronouns
6. of or relating to intension

noun

1. an intensifier or intensive pronoun or grammatical construction

inˈtensively adverb

inˈtensiveness noun