List of Intensifiers in English( +Example Sentences)

We use intensifiers to make adjectives stronger.

Here is a list of the most common intensifiers:

• absolutely
• amazingly
• astoundingly
• at all
• awful
• bitterly
• bloody
• completely
• crazy
• dead
• dreadfully
• colossally
• especially
• exceptionally
• excessively
• extremely
• extraordinarily
• fantastically
• frightfully
• fully
• hella 
• incredibly
• insanely
• literally
• mad 
• mightily
• outrageously
• particularly
• phenomenally
• precious
• quite
• radically
• rather
• real
• really
• remarkably
• ridiculously
• so
• somewhat
• strikingly
• super
• supremely
• terribly
• terrifically
• too
• totally
• unbelievably
• veritable
• very

A lot of intensifiers have the same meaning but some of them are different and some of them only work in certain situations(supremely confident, bitterly disappointing).

Let’s look at some example sentences:

I am absolutely delighted with my exam results.

I didn’t like the movie at all.

I was bitterly disappointed after the game.

I am dreadfully bad at football.

I am especially good at tennis.

That game is dead easy.

The new Red Dead redemption game is insanely good.

I am quite busy at the moment.

He is rather tall.

It is so hot in here.

That company are super cool to work for.

I am totally late for work.

What are intensifiers?

Intensifiers make adjectives stronger. Very and Really are very common intensifiers.

I did well in the exam.(90%)

I did really well in the exam. (98%)

Some adjectives are already strong so we can’t use very and really with them. We can use absolutely or completely with strong adjectives.

I did terrible in the exam. (20%)

I did absolutely terrible in the exam. (5%)

I did really terrible in the exam.

Intensifiers give more emphasis to what you want to say. They make your sentence more extreme and therefore more interesting. 

Some intensifiers are regional and only used in certain parts of the world. Intensifiers also become popular for a particular time period and then lose popularity. 

Totally(U.S.A,)

He is totally crazy about you.

Literally (U.K, U.S.A)

This is literally the best thing I have ever eaten.

Heaps (Australia)

This beer is heaps good.

Mad (Ireland)

The pub is mad busy. 

Some people find it annoying when you overuse intensifiers because if you make everything extreme, then it is difficult to know when something is truly extreme. 

Intensifiers usually come before an adjective.

That football player is very bad.

I think that is absolutely terrible.

Weak intensifiers

Some examples of weak intensifiers include:

Quite

Quite shows that something is a little bit stronger than expected but it is not as strong as very.

The movie was quite good but I thought it would have been better.

It is quite warm today.

Pretty, Fairly

Pretty and fairly are used for something which was not as good as expected.

The movie was fairly good. 

He is pretty good at football but not brilliant. 

Intensifiers with comparatives and superlatives

We can use far, much, or a lot for comparative adjectives.

He is far better than me at football.

He is much better than me at football.

He is a lot better than me at football.

We can use by far, or easily with superlative adjectives. 

He is by far the best at football.

He is easily the best at football.

Adjectives as intensifiers

Sometimes we use adjectives as intensifiers

Here is a list with example sentences:

Absolute

He was absolute rubbish in that game.

Complete

That is complete nonsense.

Total

That is total rubbish.

Real

That coat is real nice.

Utter

That is utter nonsense.