- ardent love or affection
- intense sexual love
- a strong affection or enthusiasm for an object, concept, etc: a passion for poetry
- any strongly felt emotion, such as love, hate, envy, etc
- a state or outburst of extreme anger: she flew into a passion
- the object of an intense desire, ardent affection, or enthusiasm
- an outburst expressing intense emotion: he burst into a passion of sobs
- the sufferings and death of a Christian martyr
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
pas•sion /ˈpæʃən/USA pronunciation
n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- (an instance or an experience of) strong feeling: [uncountable]an actress of strong passion.[countable]Sometimes his passions got the better of him.
- (an instance or an experience of) strong feeling of love:[uncountable]his overwhelming passion for her.
- (an instance or feeling of) strong sexual desire;
lust:[uncountable]Passion swept through them. - a strong fondness or desire for something:[countable* usually singular]a passion for music.
pas•sion
(pash′ən),USA pronunciation n.
pas′sion•ful, adj.
pas′sion•ful•ly, adv.
pas′sion•ful•ness, n.
pas′sion•like′, adj.
- any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.
- strong amorous feeling or desire;
love;
ardor. - strong sexual desire;
lust. - an instance or experience of strong love or sexual desire.
- a person toward whom one feels strong love or sexual desire.
- a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything:a passion for music.
- the object of such a fondness or desire:Accuracy became a passion with him.
- an outburst of strong emotion or feeling:He suddenly broke into a passion of bitter words.
- violent anger.
- the state of being acted upon or affected by something external, esp. something alien to one's nature or one's customary behavior (contrasted with action).
- Religion(often cap.) [Theol.]
- the sufferings of Christ on the cross or His sufferings subsequent to the Last Supper.
- the narrative of Christ's sufferings as recorded in the Gospels.
- [Archaic.]the sufferings of a martyr.
- Medieval Latin passiōn- (stem of passiō) Christ's sufferings on the cross, any of the Biblical accounts of these (
late Old English passiōn), special use of Late Latin passiō suffering, submission, derivative of Latin passus, past participle of patī to suffer, submit; see -ion - Old French)
- Middle English (1125–75
pas′sion•ful•ly, adv.
pas′sion•ful•ness, n.
pas′sion•like′, adj.
- 1. See feeling. 6. fervor, zeal, ardor. 9. ire, fury, wrath, rage.
- 1. apathy.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
passion /ˈpæʃən/ n
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
Passion /ˈpæʃən/ n
- the sufferings of Christ from the Last Supper to his death on the cross
- any of the four Gospel accounts of this
- a musical setting of this: the St Matthew Passion
'passion' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Bach
- blaze
- blood
- burn
- conceive
- duende
- empathy
- enthusiasm
- fan
- fire
- flame
- Gibson
- granadilla
- heat
- impassioned
- infatuate
- infatuated
- infatuation
- inflammable
- Nerval
- Oberammergau
- pash
- passion fruit
- Passion play
- Smith
- Sondheim
- sultry
- swelter
- vent
- affect
- anamnesis
- animus
- apathy
- appassionato
- ardor
- auxiliary
- calm
- cold
- compassion
- crucify
- dead
- demon
- dispassion
- dispassionate
- ebullition
- empire
- feeling
- fervor
- fillip
- flare