possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to a heightened degree
"intense heat"
"intense anxiety"
"intense desire"
"intense emotion"
"the skunk's intense acrid odor"
"intense pain"
"enemy fire was intense"
Strained; tightly drawn.
"The intense wire held the heavy beam in place without bending."
The word "intense" entered English from the Old French form intense or directly from Latin intēnsus. Originally meaning something that was stretched tight or strained, it evolved to describe extreme fervor and great force.