What is a Intensifier? Intensifiers Definition and Example Sentences

What Are Intensifiers?

Intensifiers, reinforce the meaning of the sentence. They come before the word they describe. “Very (very), quite (quite) so (so), such” are commonly used reinforcers. Reinforcers are used to reinforce the meaning of a sentence. Check out the examples below:

Your pronunciation is good.
Your pronunciation is very good.
Your pronunciation is quite good.

Very:

She is a polite person.
She is a very polite person.
She is not a very polite person.
He cannot learn very quickly.

Much/So/Such:

I enjoyed your jacket so much.
Do they know that you love them so much?
My sister is such a nice person that everybody wants to be friends with her.
My mum looks so young, but my dad looks so old.

Let’s take a look at some mixed examples of Intensifiers:

I strongly disagree about this idea.
It’s extremely hot in Egypt.
You play American football very well.
Does he really mean it to us?
It’s fairly interesting.
It’s quite loud here.
These people are rather noisy.
She so wanted to buy this dress for her mother.
She writes poems with her teacher too often.
This is absolutely amazing!
I am a little angry with him.

Negative-sounding Intensifiers Provide Strength

You look awfully tired.
She is dreadfully sorry.
That is an insanely clever plan.
This pressure is dropping terribly quickly.

Real-life Examples of Intensifiers

You can only enjoy life when you’re extremely busy. (Actress Josephine de La Baume)
Nothing to me feels as good as laughing incredibly hard. (Actor Steve Carell)
In Jaws, they used their state-of-the-art animatronic shark very sparingly because it kept breaking down, but it was why the film was so good. It was all suggested. (Actor Tom Ellis)

Intensifiers have the potential to make the words they alter weaker. Consider the following scenario:

I don’t need much money. I lead a fairly simple life. (TV presenter Karl Pilkington)
I make things up for a living. It would be pretty boring to write about real people. (Author Kristin Gore)

Why Should We Care about Intensifiers?

In formal writing, intensifiers are best avoided since many people regard their usage to be sloppy writing. The degree of intensity should be attained by word choice while writing properly.

It is very tasty.

(This is referred to as sloppy writing.)

It is delicious.

(With a strong word like “delicious,” an intensifier is unnecessary. The words “quite tasty” and “very delicious” have an odd ring to them.)

Table of Contents

Toggle

Most Common Intensifiers

Here is a list of the most common intensifiers:

Absolutely
Amazingly
Astoundingly
at all
awful
bitterly
bloody
completely
crazy
dead
dreadfully
colossally
especially
exceptionally
excessively
extremely
extraordinarily
fantastically
frightfully
fully
incredibly
insanely
literally
mad
outrageously
particularly
phenomenally
precious
quite
radically
rather
real
really
remarkably
ridiculously
so
somewhat
strikingly
super
supremely
terribly
terrifically
too
totally
unbelievably
veritable
very