Passionate Meaning
/ˈpæʃənɪt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjGiven to strong feeling, sometimes romantic, sexual, or both.
adjFired with intense feeling.
Sentence Examples
I like such a passionate picture as Gogh painted.
So passionate was his letter that she was moved to tears.
I admire his passionate belief in what he is doing.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ speaker moved the audience to tears with his story about his childhood.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He was a ____ advocate for environmental protection and spent his career fighting for clean air laws.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English passionat, from Medieval Latin passiōnātus (“affected, impassioned, libidinous, easely angered”). Equivalent to passion + -ate (adjective-forming suffix). Compare French passionné.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
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"She is sad and passionate at your highness’ tent."
— c. 1596 (date written), 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, [Act II, scene i], line 544:
"Poor, forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus,"
— c. 1590–1591 (date written), 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, [Act I, scene ii], line 124:
"Great pleasure mixt with pittifull regard, / That godly King and Queene did passionate [...]."
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
"Thy niece and I, poor creatures, want our hands / And cannot passionate our tenfold grief / with folded arms."
— c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], line 6:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ speaker moved the audience to tears with his story about his childhood.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He was a ____ advocate for environmental protection and spent his career fighting for clean air laws.