Standard Lemma guide

intension

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ɪnˈtɛnʃən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: intention

1

noun

Meaning 1

Intensity or the act of becoming intense.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any property or quality connoted by a word, phrase or other symbol, contrasted with actual instances in the real world to which the term applies.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, logic, mathematics, philosophy, sciences, semantics

Examples

  • 'Is a plant', 'has a trunk', 'has leaves' are intensions of the concept tree. Its extension is the set of all trees existing in the real world.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: extension

3

noun

Meaning 3

A straining, stretching, or bending; the state of being strained.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated

Examples

  • the intension of a musical string

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

what you must know in order to determine the reference of an expression

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: connotation

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: meaning, significance, signification, import

History

Etymology

From Latin intēnsiō (“straining, effort; intensifying”), from intēnsus (“stretched”), perfect passive participle of intendō (“strain or stretch toward”).

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: напрежение (napreženie) — intensity
  • Bulgarian: интензивност (intenzivnost) — intensity