ˈfərvər, ˈfə̄və(r, ˈfəivə(r noun
( -s )
Usage: see -or
Etymology: Middle English fervour, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French ferveur, from Latin fervor, from fervēre to boil, glow + -or
1. : intense heat
those deserts … whose … fervors scarce allowed a bird to live — P.B.Shelley
2.
a. : intensity of feeling or expression : passion
rejected communism with as much fervor as they had accepted it — Margaret Marshall
she cried quietly but with fervor — Robert Murphy
specifically : deep or excited interest in or enthusiasm for something
the book has been greeted by Frenchmen with a fervor that no previous book on art ever aroused — George Duthuit
: earnestness
the moral fervor of a reformer
ages of spiritual fervor … in which … men have been unusually excited about their souls — Clive Bell
: zeal
the tackling on both sides attains the fervor of a holy war — New Yorker
b. : an instance of emotional fervor
the almost hysterical fervors of wartime
Synonyms: see passion