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intensive purposes or intents and purposes?
If you are casting about for the phrase that is used to say that “one thing has the same effect or result as something else,” you are looking for for all intents and purposes; you are not looking for intensive purposes. Your purposes may indeed be intensive in some way (we don’t want to know the details), but these two words are not commonly found together as an idiom. The pairing of intents and purposes comes from a 1546 Act of Parliament conveying that King Henry VIII had unlimited power to interpret laws; it contained the phrase “to all intents, constructions, and purposes.”
Synonyms
Examples of intensive in a Sentence
Sasha Pezenik, ABC News, 13 Nov. 2023
Following phase one, a jury will assess submissions and choose four writers to move on to phase two of the intensive.
—Abbey White, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Nov. 2023
The MacBook Pro is well-suited for even the most demanding fields, including those requiring more intensive video editing and rendering.
—Christian De Looper, wsj.com, 1 Nov. 2023
There are quiet, intensive negotiations going on behind the scenes involving a number of – of parties.
—ABC News, 5 Nov. 2023
Maui leaders are still trying to scale up the number of available mental health practitioners, Oliver said, estimating that roughly 2,000 fire victims may need intensive counseling.
—Alicia Victoria Lozano, NBC News, 5 Nov. 2023
Dominique Janee: And that level of hygiene was labor intensive, says Downs, opening a chance for a refugee mother to get a hospital job considered women's work.
—Dominique Janee, Scientific American, 2 Nov. 2023
Shelly Fuller, who directs the program, says managing vape waste has gotten more costly and labor intensive with the shift to disposables.
—Matthew Perrone, Fortune, 19 Oct. 2023
Some civilian casualties are unavoidable in war, especially during a bombing campaign as intensive as the one Israel has been waging in recent days.
—Ned Temko, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 Oct. 2023
Alice Robb, ELLE, 28 Feb. 2023
Their Race2Community program includes a nine-week intensive built to guide white women through deep introspection surrounding their own internalized white supremacy.
—Dana Brownlee, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2022
To make squat day more glute intensive, try using an exaggerated wide stance.
—Jeff Tomko, Men's Health, 19 Oct. 2022
Out of each year’s participants, the program selects 400 enthusiastic, aspiring dancers to join a 10-week intensive at Boston Ballet.
—Karen Campbell, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Aug. 2022
The ballet has the Otto M. Budig Academy, too, with a schedule of summer intensives.
—David Lyman, Cincinnati.com, 24 Mar. 2020
Lynx said many of the students who come for the monthslong intensives (another option) are divorced, or on their way to it.
—Nellie Bowles, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2020
The non-profit holds annual summer intensives in each country, during which notable songwriters and producers teach collaborative songwriting, music production and music business in an effort to foster local talent.
—Chris Eggertsen, Billboard, 23 Aug. 2019
In addition to the U.S., Spotify has also held Sound Up intensives in Australia, Brazil, and the U.K.
—Chris Eggertsen, Billboard, 7 June 2019
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'intensive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Phrases Containing intensive
Dictionary Entries Near intensive
Cite this Entry
“Intensive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intensive. Accessed 2 Dec. 2023.
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Kids Definition
intensive
1 of 2 adjective
intensive
2 of 2 noun
Medical Definition
intensive
adjective
More from Merriam-Webster on intensive
Nglish: Translation of intensive for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of intensive for Arabic Speakers
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