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intensify

/ɪnˈtɛnsɪfaɪ/verb

intensify is spelled I-N-T-E-N-S-I-F-Y: 9 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,536th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, intensify means “To render more intense” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in intensify?

Letters9: I-N-T-E-N-S-I-F-Y
Syllables4 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.4 times per million words; the 23,536th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is intensify?

Intensify appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,536th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce intensify?

  • /ɪnˈtɛnsɪfaɪ/

Intensify has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-intensify.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of intensify

  • intensifies present, singular, he/she/it
  • intensifying participle, present
  • intensified participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does intensify mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To render more intense.

    to intensify the heat or cold

  2. 2

    To become intense, or more intense; to act with increasing power or energy.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Intensify in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchintensifier (to render more intense), s'intensifier (to become more intense)
Germanintensifizieren, intensivieren (to render more intense)
Portugueseintensificar (to render more intense), intensificar-se (to become more intense)
Spanishintensificar (to render more intense), arreciar (to become more intense)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does intensify come from?

From intense + -ify. Compare French intensifier.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after intensify