1. relating to or characterized by intension; having to do with the inherent meaning or content of a concept rather than its extension or reference
Usage: philosophy; logic

Examples

• The philosopher distinguished between intensional and extensional definitions of terms.
• In logic, intensional contexts can create problems for substitution of equivalent expressions.
• The intensional meaning of ‘bachelor’ includes the concept of being unmarried.
• Intensional logic deals with meanings rather than truth values alone.
• The two expressions have the same extension but different intensional content.
• Modal operators often create intensional contexts in formal languages.