Make Your Point: ARDENT

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ARDENT

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

pronounce ARDENT:

AR dent

Hear it.

connect this word to others:

Let's talk about heat. Heat is one of those primary metaphors fueling our language; for example, if you're extremely excited about something (or someone!), we might say you're hot or burning for it, or ardent or f_rv__t about it.

Can you recall that last synonym? It means "intensely eager, as if glowing with heat."

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

Our word "ardent" traces back through French to the Latin ardentem, meaning "hot, glowing, or on fire."

In a literal sense, ardent things can be hot, fiery, or burning.

Most of the time, though, we use the word figuratively. Ardent things and people are so eager or enthusiastic about something that it's as if they're on fire.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "an ardent fan," "an ardent guitarist."

Other forms:

The adverb is "ardently."

For a noun, you can pick from "ardor," "ardentness," and my favorite, "ardency."

how to use it:

"Ardent" is a clear, common, formal word that helps you emphasize the heat and excitement of someone's feelings, whether they're rooted in friendship, romantic love, or zeal for some hobby, religion, political party, etc.

You might talk about people's ardent hopes, desires, affections, comments, glances and so on.

Or, talk about ardent people, usually in a specific way that expresses what they're ardent about: "an ardent fan of Britney Spears," "an ardent believer in cryptocurrency," "an ardent member of this church," "an ardent supporter of this plan," "an ardent critic of that philosophy."

If you use "ardent" literally, be sure you're going for a serious, scholarly tone. Here's an example from Pearl S. Buck: "The land lay shining under the dry cold wind and under the ardent sun."

examples:

"He had fallen for the ardent young woman collecting signatures around campus to end the draft."
— Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere, 2017

"His soul overflowed with ardent affections, and his friendship was of that devoted and wondrous nature that the worldly-minded teach us to look for only in the imagination."
— Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818

has this page helped you understand "ardent"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "ardent" without saying "passionate" or "zealous."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) (is or was) an ardent (fan of something, or believer in something)."

Example 1: "I'm an ardent fan of nugget ice. So dainty. So crunchy."

Example 2: "[Sigmund Freud] was an ardent believer in biorhythms and thought that he would die at the age of fifty-one, the sum of 28 and 23... So even Freud suffered from innumeracy."
— John Allen Paulos, Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences, 1988

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for June is "Happy Stories in Hidden Cities."

I'll give you a sentence from a happy news story, along with a long word that contains all the letters, in order, of the name of the city in which the story takes place. And you give me the city.

Here's an example:

"A puppy was excited to experience his first-ever snowfall on Friday, November 11, after a winter storm swept through the area." FARRAGO.

The answer here is "Fargo," the city where this story takes place. You can spot the name FARGO inside FARRAGO.

Try this one today:

"[Local] city councillor Nial Ring described the ruling [against the demolition of a beloved pub] as 'a great day for our rich musical culture, our language and our heritage.'" DOUBLE-DATING.

To see the answer, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. Opposites of ARDENT include

A. SOFT and MALLEABLE.
B. COLD and INDIFFERENT.
C. STRONG and BURLY.

2. In the novel Frankenstein, Walton often describes himself as "ardent," accurately so: he's _____.

A. filled with guilt and shame
B. tender, tearful, and wishy-washy
C. driven, passionate, curious, and ambitious

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ARDENT Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ARDENT

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.