Intensification

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The action or process resulting in a greater degree, force, or impact of something
2. The process of making something more intense, forceful, or severe occurs through various means and can apply to multiple situations or contexts
3. The act or process by which something is made stronger, more powerful, or more concentrated

Etymology: The word is a straightforward formation: "intense" plus the suffix "-ification," which itself passed into English from Old French "-ification" and ultimately from Latin "-ficatio," a noun-forming ending built on verbs in "-ficare," meaning "to make." So "intensification" literally means the making of something intense. The suffix carries the whole idea. Words built this way, such as "simplification" or "purification," describe the process of turning something into the state named by the base word. "Intense" came into English from Latin "intensus," meaning stretched tight or strained, so the underlying image is of something pulled taut and made more forceful.

Synonyms: amplification, escalation, enhancement, increase, augmentation

Antonyms: de-escalation, reduction, diminishment, lessening, mitigation