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ardour

noun/ˈɑːdə/

C1CEFR level
60/100Rarity: rare
LiteraryRegister

Intense passion, enthusiasm or desire.

He pursued the cause with an ardour that both inspired and exhausted his colleagues.

Similar: fervour, zeal

Origin: Latin ardor 'burning, heat', from ardere 'to burn'.

Topic: passion in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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