intensifier
English
Etymology
From intensify + -er; from the most common use of such terms, to intensify an adjective.
Pronunciation
Audio (US): (file)
Noun
intensifier (plural intensifiers)
- That which intensifies.
- (linguistics) A word or particle that heightens the intensity of meaning of a term.
- 2020 August 8, Zui, “Controlled Languages — Newspeak”, in The Language Closet[1]:
- “Plus-” and “doubleplus-” are both intensifiers that replace words of different extremities, and the words very and extremely respectively. So words like great, excellent and horrible are rendered redundant in Newspeak, replaced by “plusgood”, “doubleplusgood” and “doubleplusungood” respectively. Note how “un-” has to follow the intensifier prefix.
- (photography) A chemical agent used to intensify the lights or shadows of a photograph.
Derived terms
Translations
that which intensifies
a word or particle that heightens the intensity of meaning of a term
|
a chemical agent used to intensify the lights or shadows of a photograph
|
See also
- Category:English intensifiers
References
- Eugene E. Loos [et al.], editors (2003), “intensifier”, in Glossary of Linguistic Terms, Dallas, Tex.: SIL International.
- “intensifier”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
Verb
intensifier
- to intensify
Conjugation
Conjugation of intensifier (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | intensifier | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | intensifiant /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | intensifié /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fje/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | intensifie /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi/ |
intensifies /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi/ |
intensifie /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi/ |
intensifions /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjɔ̃/ |
intensifiez /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fje/ |
intensifient /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi/ |
| imperfect | intensifiais /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjɛ/ |
intensifiais /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjɛ/ |
intensifiait /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjɛ/ |
intensifiions /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.jɔ̃/ |
intensifiiez /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.je/ |
intensifiaient /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | intensifiai /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fje/ |
intensifias /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fja/ |
intensifia /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fja/ |
intensifiâmes /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjam/ |
intensifiâtes /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjat/ |
intensifièrent /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjɛʁ/ | |
| future | intensifierai /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.ʁe/ |
intensifieras /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.ʁa/ |
intensifiera /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.ʁa/ |
intensifierons /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.ʁɔ̃/ |
intensifierez /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.ʁe/ |
intensifieront /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | intensifierais /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.ʁɛ/ |
intensifierais /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.ʁɛ/ |
intensifierait /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.ʁɛ/ |
intensifierions /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.ʁjɔ̃/ |
intensifieriez /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.ʁje/ |
intensifieraient /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.ʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | intensifie /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi/ |
intensifies /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi/ |
intensifie /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi/ |
intensifiions /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.jɔ̃/ |
intensifiiez /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi.je/ |
intensifient /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi/ |
| imperfect2 | intensifiasse /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjas/ |
intensifiasses /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjas/ |
intensifiât /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fja/ |
intensifiassions /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fja.sjɔ̃/ |
intensifiassiez /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fja.sje/ |
intensifiassent /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | intensifie /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fi/ |
— | intensifions /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fjɔ̃/ |
intensifiez /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.fje/ |
— | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Related terms
Further reading
- “intensifier”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.