ardent

adjective

ar·​dent ˈär-dᵊnt 

1

: characterized by warmth of feeling typically expressed in eager zealous support or activity

ardent proponents of the bill

an ardent admirer

ardent fans

2

: fiery, hot

an ardent sun

3

: shining, glowing

ardent eyes

ardently adverb

Synonyms

• blazing
• burning
• charged
• demonstrative
• emotional
• fervent
• fervid
• feverish
• fiery
• flaming
• glowing
• hot-blooded
• impassioned
• incandescent
• intense
• passional
• passionate
• perfervid
• red-hot
• religious
• superheated
• torrid
• vehement
• warm
• warm-blooded

Choose the Right Synonym for ardent

impassioned, passionate, ardent, fervent, fervid, perfervid mean showing intense feeling.

impassioned implies warmth and intensity without violence and suggests fluent verbal expression.

an impassioned plea for justice

passionate implies great vehemence and often violence and wasteful diffusion of emotion.

a passionate denunciation

ardent implies an intense degree of zeal, devotion, or enthusiasm.

an ardent supporter of human rights

fervent stresses sincerity and steadiness of emotional warmth or zeal.

fervent good wishes

fervid suggests warmly and spontaneously and often feverishly expressed emotion.

fervid love letters

perfervid implies the expression of exaggerated or overwrought feelings.

perfervid expressions of patriotism

Examples of ardent in a Sentence

These ardent young nationalists, mostly still in their 20s and impatient for freedom, had acquired arms from sympathetic nationalist officers in the Indian army … —Gita Mehta, Vogue, April 1997

In fact, Gorbachev told me, a schoolboy essay he'd written on the virtues of Stalin was considered so ardent and exemplary that "for years thereafter other children were made to read it." —David Remnick, New Yorker, 18 Nov. 1996

During the fourth century, pagan piety in the upper classes became more elevated, more ardent, and more mystical. —Norman F. Cantor, The Civilization of the Middle Ages, 1993

made ardent declarations of love to the woman he someday hoped to marry

an ardent science-fiction fan who has read virtually all of his favorite author's many works

Recent Examples on the Web

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan dissented and was joined by conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia, an ardent textualist. —Ann E. Marimow, Washington Post, 13 Apr. 2024

By Karen Breslau | Bloomberg Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Law and an ardent supporter of free speech, rebuked a group of students for staging a pro-Palestinian protest at his home as the fallout from Israel’s war in Gaza continues to roil US campuses. —Bloomberg, The Mercury News, 11 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English ardaunt, ardent "burning, fiery, passionate," borrowed from Middle French ardent, ardant, going back to Old French, borrowed from Latin ardent-, ardens "burning, fiercely hot, shining, eager, passionate," from present participle of ardēre "to burn, emit light or flame, be fiercely hot, be violently excited, be eager," derivative of āridus, ārdus "dry, waterless" — more at arid

Note: The assumption here is that the initial long vowel of āridus is shortened in ardēre, though this is uncertain. (Ernout and Meillet in Dictionnaire étymologique de langue latine marked it as long, though M. Leumann in Lateinische Laut- und Formenlehre considered it to have been shortened.) Although derivation of ardēre from āridus seems likely on a morphological basis, the semantic relation is anomalous, as the verb is not a stative derivative of the adjective—the verb ārēre "to be dry, parched" already serves that function. The noun ardor is similarly anomalous. Most other stative verbs in -ēre paired with adjectives in -idus have a corresponding abstract noun ending in -ōr-, -or (originally *-ōs-, *-ōs), but the pair āridus/ārēre lacks a corresponding noun *āror. The derivative ardor does not provide it, as it means "burning, fierce heat," not "dryness" (though heat produces dryness, the implicit semantic connection).

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing ardent

• ardent spirits

Kids Definition

ardent

adjective

ar·​dent ˈärd-ᵊnt 

1

: showing or having warmth of feeling : passionate

an ardent admirer

2

: zealous, devoted

an ardent supporter

ardently adverb