Meaning & use
intensive course
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
a short course in which you study a subject very hard, usually with many hours of lessons each day.
Grammar: Countable, so you can say 'an intensive course' or 'intensive courses'.
Patterns
- take an intensive course in something
- do an intensive course
- an intensive course in English
- a six-week intensive course
She took an intensive course in Spanish before moving to Madrid.
The university offers intensive courses in business English during the summer.
After an intensive course in coding, he felt ready to apply for a job.
nouncountable
a training program that teaches a lot in a short period, often for work or a specific skill.
Grammar: Often used with 'on' or 'in' to name the subject: an intensive course on safety.
Patterns
- an intensive course on something
- run an intensive course
- complete an intensive course
New employees must complete an intensive course on workplace safety.
The army runs an intensive course for new officers.
He signed up for an intensive course to prepare for the exam.
Word forms
| plural | intensive courses |
|---|
Common combinations
- take an intensive course
- I decided to take an intensive course to improve my French quickly.
- an intensive language course
- An intensive language course can help you speak more fluently in a few weeks.
- a two-week intensive course
- They offer a two-week intensive course in first aid.
- enroll in an intensive course
- She enrolled in an intensive course to prepare for the university entrance exam.
Synonyms and how they differ
- crash course
- Informal and suggests very fast, basic training; an intensive course may be longer and more thorough.
- immersion course
- Specifically means you are surrounded by the language or subject all day, while an intensive course simply has many hours of study.
- boot camp
- Informal and often implies a very strict, demanding program, sometimes used for fitness or coding.
Opposites
Word family
- intensively adverb
- In a way that involves a lot of effort or activity in a short time, as in 'She studied intensively for a month.'
- intensity noun
- The strength or seriousness of something, as in 'the intensity of the training'.
- intensive adjective
- Involving a lot of work or activity in a short period.
Commonly confused: intensive course or intense?
intensive course vs intense
Means very strong or extreme, as in 'intense heat' or 'intense emotions'; it does not describe a course.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'intensive course' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option 0 is correct because 'an intensive course in [subject]' is the usual pattern. Option 1 uses 'intense', which describes strong feelings, not a course. Option 2 uses 'of' instead of 'in'. Option 3 uses 'on', which is possible for a topic but less common for a language.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “intensive course”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.