ardor

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia.

ar·dor

(är′dər)

Intensity of emotion, especially strong desire, enthusiasm, or devotion. See Synonyms at passion.

[Middle English ardour, from Old French, from Latin ārdor, from ārdēre, to burn; see as- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ar•dor

(ˈɑr dər)

n.

1. great warmth of feeling; fervor.

2. intense devotion; zeal.

3. burning heat.

Also, esp. Brit., ar′dour.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Latin, =ārd(ēre) to burn + -or -or¹]

usage: See -or¹.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	ardor - a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause); "they were imbued with a revolutionary ardor"; "he felt a kind of religious zeal" ardour, elan, zeal avidity, avidness, eagerness, keenness - a positive feeling of wanting to push ahead with something
	2.	ardor - intense feeling of love ardour love - a strong positive emotion of regard and affection; "his love for his work"; "children need a lot of love"
	3.	ardor - feelings of great warmth and intensity; "he spoke with great ardor" fervency, fervidness, fervor, fervour, ardour, fire passion, passionateness - a strong feeling or emotion zeal - excessive fervor to do something or accomplish some end; "he had an absolute zeal for litigation"

ardor

noun

1. Powerful, intense emotion:

fervency, fervor, fire, passion.

2. Passionate devotion to or interest in a cause or subject, for example:

enthusiasm, fervor, fire, passion, zeal, zealousness.

Translations

ardour

(American) ardor (ˈaːdə) noun

enthusiasm; passion.

ar·dor

n. ardor, sensación quemante.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

References in classic literature ?

When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped.

Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity.

View in context

Their ardor alternated between a vague ideal and the common yearning of womanhood; so that the one was disapproved as extravagance, and the other condemned as a lapse.

View in context

I fell in love with Pope, whose life I read with an ardor of sympathy which I am afraid he hardly merited.

'Dunciad,' with quite a furious ardor in the tiresome quarrels it celebrates, and an interest in its machinery, which it fatigues me to think of.

View in context

Tongue-tied by inexperience and by excess of ardor, wooing unwittingly and awkwardly, Martin continued his approach by contact.

Her prodigious innocence appalled him, freezing on his lips all ardors of speech, and convincing him, in spite of himself, of his own unworthiness.

View in context

With renewed ardor Saxon devoted herself to her household, to her pretties, and to her charms.

View in context

In good time, nevertheless, as the ardor of youth declines; as years and dumps increase; as reflection lends her solemn pauses; in short, as a general lassitude overtakes the sated Turk; then a love of ease and virtue supplants the love for maidens; our Ottoman enters upon the impotent, repentant, admonitory stage of life, forswears, disbands the harem, and grown to an exemplary, sulky old soul, goes about all alone among the meridians and parallels saying his prayers, and warning each young Leviathan from his amorous errors.

View in context

Natasha, with the ardor characteristic of all she did suddenly set to work too.

View in context

Meridian Retail Leasing, the retail leasing division of Meridian Capital Group, has arranged a 35-year lease for ARDOR School for Passion-Based Learning at 29 Nassau Avenue in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.

Day school inks 35-year W'burg lease

But our ideals as a nation stand the same - our passion for freedom should be our foremost aspiration, and our ardor to serve the country should take precedence over much anything else and should never fade.