On the Road to Emmaus

In recent months, I have noticed that myself and a number of friends and acquaintances have taken a strong liking to the adjective “intense,” to describe all manner of experiences. What tends to happen when a word is over-used is that it slowly begins to lose meaning as it acquires the status of lingo. I have made a personal determination to excise the use of the word “intense” from my vocabulary. At the least, however, I have assigned the word to the “use sparingly” category of the food pyramid. We all know what over-use of other “use sparingly” items such as fats and sugars do to one’s health. Likewise, overuse of lingo terms makes one either over-weight or sugar-highed, linguistically speaking. Instead, I am making an effort to be more specific in what I actually mean. If an experience was high-energy I will say that rather than “intense.” If an experience was emotionally impacting, I will say that, and so on. I consider it an exercise in being able to share more openly and honestly with people pertaining to what I actually experience and feel rather than resorting to stock phrases which reveal little to nothing about me.

I am hoping others will join me on this linguistic, and more-so relational, adventure. As a matter of public service, I will here list various synonyms for “intense” from which to broaden your horizons.

If by intense you mean “a condition, quality, feeling, etc. existing in a high degree; forceful or extreme” than synonyms would include:

extreme

great

acute

fierce

severe

high

exceptional

extraordinary

harsh

strong

powerful

potent

overpowering

vigorous

serious

If by intense you mean “feeling or apt to feel, strong emotion; extremely earnest or serious” than synonyms could be:

passionate

impassioned

ardent

fervent

zealous

vehement

fiery

emotional

earnest

eager

animated

spirited

vigorous

energetic

committed

If you mean “high-energy” you could say:

volatile

explosive

aggressive

determined

fervid

energetic

vital

zestful

spirited

animated

lively

vigorous

dynamic

high-powered

all-out

hard-hitting

exuberant

wild

If you mean “emotional,” you could say:

poignant

moving

touching

affecting

powerful

stirring

emotive

heart-rending

heartwarming

impassioned

dramatic

inspiring

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