Intense means strong or extreme. If you accidentally spill a cup of hot coffee on yourself, you’ll probably feel intense heat, intense pain, and — if anyone happened to be watching — intense embarrassment.
When using intense, we often refer to a specific feeling or emotion, as in the case of “intense dread” or “intense happiness.” Intense can also be used to describe exciting experiences as well as people with strong or insistent personalities. For example, if your intense friend insists on taking you bungee jumping, you’re guaranteed to have an intense experience. Intense comes from a Latin word meaning “stretched,” implying that something has been stretched to its maximum limit.