passionate

passionate

English

Etymology

From Middle English passionat, from Medieval Latin passionatus, past participle of passionare (“to be affected with passion”); see passion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpæʃənɪt/, /ˈpæʃənət/

• Audio (US)

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• Hyphenation: pas‧sion‧ate

Adjective

passionate (comparative more passionate, superlative most passionate)

1. Given to strong feeling, sometimes romantic, sexual, or both.

   Mandy is a passionate lover.

2. Fired with intense feeling.
   • 1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon, and other Poems on several Occasions, Preface, in Samuel Johnson (editor), The Works of the English Poets, London: J. Nichols, Volume 31, 1779, p. 93,

     Homer intended to shew us, in his Iliad, that dissentions amongst great men obstruct the execution of the noblest enterprizes […] His Achilles therefore is haughty and passionate, impatient of any restraint by laws, and arrogant of arms.

3. (obsolete) Suffering; sorrowful.
   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i], line 544:

     She is sad and passionate at your highness’ tent.

   • c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii], line 124:

     Poor, forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus,

Synonyms

• (fired with intense feeling): ardent, blazing, burning, dithyrambic, fervent, fervid, fiery, flaming, glowing, heated, hot-blooded, hotheaded, impassioned, perfervid, red-hot, scorching, torrid

Derived terms

• passionate friendship

Related terms

• passion
• passive
• passivity
• patience
• patient

Translations

fired with intense feeling

Afrikaans: passievol Basque: sutsua Bulgarian: страстен (bg) (strasten) Catalan: apassionat (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 多情 (zh) (duōqíng), 熾熱／炽热 (zh) (chìrè), 熱情／热情 (zh) (rèqíng) Czech: vášnivý (cs) m Danish: lidenskabelig Dutch: hartstochtelijk (nl), gepassioneerd (nl) Esperanto: pasia Finnish: intohimoinen (fi), kiihkeä (fi), tulinen (fi), palava (fi) French: passionné (fr) Galician: apaixoado, ardencioso m Georgian: ვნებიანი (vnebiani), მგზნებარე (mgznebare), ცხოველი (cxoveli), ფიცხი (picxi) German: leidenschaftlich (de) Greek: παθιασμένος (el) (pathiasménos) Ancient: περιπαθής (peripathḗs) Haitian Creole: pasyone Hungarian: szenvedélyes (hu) Icelandic: ástríðufullur Irish: ainmhianach Italian: appassionato (it) Japanese: 熱烈 (ja) (netsuretsu) Korean: 불타는 (bultaneun) Latin: passionatus Latvian: kaislīgs Maori: remurere, tūkaha, kohara, panapana, pukā Middle English: passional Old English: hātheort, grambære, geallig, iersigendlic Persian: پرشور‎ (fa) (poršūr) Polish: namiętny (pl) Portuguese: ardente (pt) m Romanian: înflăcărat (ro) m Russian: стра́стный (ru) (strástnyj), пы́лкий (ru) (pýlkij) Sanskrit: चण्ड (sa) (caṇḍa) Scottish Gaelic: dian, dìoghrasach, feargach Serbo-Croatian: žarki (sh) m Slovak: vášnivý Spanish: apasionado (es) Swedish: passionerad (sv), lidelsefull (sv) Tocharian B: eṅkalsu Ukrainian: при́страсний (prýstrasnyj) Vietnamese: đam mê (vi), dể giận

Noun

passionate (plural passionates)

1. A passionate individual.

Verb

passionate (third-person singular simple present passionates, present participle passionating, simple past and past participle passionated)

1. (obsolete) To fill with passion, or with another given emotion.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:

     Great pleasure mixt with pittifull regard, / That godly King and Queene did passionate [...].

2. (obsolete) To express with great emotion.
   • c. 1588–1593, William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii], line 6:

     Thy niece and I, poor creatures, want our hands / And cannot passionate our tenfold grief / with folded arms.

Further reading

• passionate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• passionate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

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Latin

Adjective

passiōnāte

1. vocative masculine singular of passiōnātus

References

• passionate in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

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Middle English

Adjective

passionate

1. Alternative form of passionat