Ardor

//ˈɑːdə// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Great warmth of feeling; fervor; passion. US, countable, uncountable

    "I rushed towards her, and embraced her with ardour; but the deathly languor and coldness of the limbs told me, that what I now held in my arms had ceased to be the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished."

  2. 2
    feelings of great warmth and intensity wordnet
  3. 3
    Spirit; enthusiasm; passion. US, countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    intense feeling of love wordnet
  5. 5
    Intense heat. US, countable, uncountable
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  1. 6
    a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
elanelanintensityzealzealabandon

Antonyms

All antonyms
apathy

Example

More examples

"Even those who have renounced Christianity and attack it, in their inmost being still follow the Christian ideal, for hitherto neither their subtlety nor the ardor of their hearts has been able to create a higher ideal of man and of virtue than the ideal given by Christ."

Etymology

From Middle English ardour, ardowr, ardure, from Anglo-Norman ardour, from Old French ardur, from Latin ardor, from ardere (“to burn”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.