— intensively , adv. — intensiveness , n.
/in ten"siv/ , adj.
1. of, pertaining to, or characterized by intensity: intensive questioning.
2. tending to intensify; intensifying.
3. Med.
a. increasing in intensity or degree.
b. 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. Gram. 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. Gram. an intensive element or formation, as -self in himself, or Latin -to in iac-to, "I hurl" from iaco, "I throw."
[ 1400-50; late ME intensivus. See INTENSE, -IVE ]