Definition:
A word that emphasizes another word or phrase.
Intensifying adjectives modify nouns; intensifying adverbs commonly modify verbs, gradable adjectives, and other adverbs. Contrast with downtoner.
See also:
- Totally Overworked Words: The Use and Abuse of Qualifiers and Intensifiers
- Absolute Adjective
- Adverb of Emphasis
- Degree Modifier
- Infix
- Qualifier
- Stance
- Submodifier
Etymology:
From the Latin, "stretch, intend"Examples and Observations:
- "Oh, I am so not in the mood for this. I've just been shot!"
(Meg Masters in Supernatural, 2005) - "The woodwind has a slightly greater scope than the violin."
(John Philip Sousa) - "I'm Jewish, but I'm totally not."
(Sarah Silverman) - "Dude, I am so wicked psyched to slay my first dragon!"
(Huntsboy #89, American Dragon: Jake Long, 2006) - "Future grammarians will someday agree that [Newt] Gingrich suffers from the worst case of clinical adverbia the world has ever seen: rare is the Gingrichian sentence that doesn’t get goosed along by an adverbial modifier. Nothing can be wrong without being fundamentally, profoundly wrong; no act isn't stupid enough not to be stunningly, staggeringly stupid."
(Andrew Fergusun, "A Newt for All Seasons." Time, Feb. 6, 2012) - "Rather, very, little, pretty--these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words. The constant use of the adjective little (except to indicate size) is particularly debilitating; we should all try to do a little better, we should all be very watchful of this rule, for it is a rather important one and we are pretty sure to violate it now and then."
(William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, The Elements of Style. 1972) - "To some degree, an intensifier acts as a signal: it announces that the word following it is worn out, and that it should be understood as inadequate. For example, in the phrase an utterly beautiful night, the author is saying, 'Look, I mean something beyond beautiful, even if I don't have the precise word word; try to imagine it.' . . .
"When intensifiers lack force, they are sometimes propped up by italics--'she was very important, very rich"'--or, in speech, by volume and theatrical pauses: 'She was a [pause] WONDERFULLY [pause] special person.' But when used repeatedly, such props become so weak that they de-intensify; they become gnatlike and annoying."
(Arthur Plotnik, Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language & Style. Random House, 2005) - "A really good detective never gets married."
(Raymond Chandler) - "The sheer number of [intensifiers], all with more or less the same meaning, is significant. If you haven't made your case, you have to pound the adverbial drums, the same way the boy in the story had to insist that this time, there really, really, really was a wolf."
(Ben Yagoda, When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It. Broadway Books, 2007) - "What grammarians call 'a repeat-intensifier'--for example, 'I so so love you' or 'I really really really love you'--has the paradoxical effect of lessening the sentence's sincerity. In terms of sense and rhythm, there is nothing that anyone can do to make the most famous three-word sentence in the English language more heartfelt or convincing than it already is. 'I love you' can never be more than 'I love you.' Those who try to extend it through repetition are often trying to cover up a lack of true feeling."
(Terence Blacker, "Must Love Be Around?" The Independent, Sep. 28, 2010) - "The women I had as very close friends were very independent women, very progressive. They're very sensitive about social change."
(Toni Morrison)
Pronunciation: in-TEN-si-fi-er
Also Known As: qualifiers, amplifiers
