Adjacent Words

Enhance definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ENH`ANCE, v.t. enh`ans.
1. To raise; to lift; applied to material things by Spenser, but this application is entirely obsolete.
2. To raise; to advance; to highthen; applied to price or value. War enhances the price of provisions; it enhances rents, and the value of lands.
3. To raise; applied to qualities, quantity, pleasures, enjoyments, etc. Pleasure is enhanced by the difficulty of obtaining it.
4. To increase; to aggravate. The guilt of a crime may be enhanced by circumstances.
ENH`ANCE, v.i. enh`ans. To be raised; to swell; to grow larger. A debt enhances rapidly by compound interest.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: increase; "This will enhance your enjoyment"; "heighten the tension" [syn: enhance, heighten, raise]
2: make better or more attractive; "This sauce will enhance the flavor of the meat"

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (enhanced; enhancing) Etymology: Middle English enhauncen, from Anglo-French enhaucer, enhauncer, from Vulgar Latin *inaltiare, from Latin in + altus high — more at old Date: 13th century 1. obsolete raise 2. heighten, increase; especially to increase or improve in value, quality, desirability, or attractiveness <enhanced the room with crown molding> • enhancement noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. heighten or intensify (qualities, powers, value, etc.); improve (something already of good quality). Derivatives: enhancement n. enhancer n. Etymology: ME f. AF enhauncer, prob. alt. f. OF enhaucier ult. f. L altus high

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Enhance En*hance", v. i. To be raised up; to grow larger; as, a debt enhances rapidly by compound interest.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Enhance En*hance", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Enhanced; p. pr. & vb. n. Enhancing.] [Norm. F. enhauncer, enhaucer, OF. enhaleier, enhaucier; pref. en- (L. in) + haucier to lift, raise up, from an assumed L. altiare, fr. L. altus high; cf. Pr. enansar, enanzar, to advance, exalt, and E. advance. See Altitude, and cf. Hawser.] 1. To raise or lift up; to exalt. [Obs.] --Wyclif. Who, naught aghast, his mighty hand enhanced. --Spenser. 2. To advance; to augment; to increase; to heighten; to make more costly or attractive; as, to enhance the price of commodities; to enhance beauty or kindness; hence, also, to render more heinous; to aggravate; as, to enhance crime. The reputation of ferocity enhanced the value of their services, in making them feared as well as hated. --Southey.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(enhances, enhancing, enhanced) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. To enhance something means to improve its value, quality, or attractiveness. They'll be keen to enhance their reputation abroad... VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Raise (as price), advance, heighten, swell. 2. Increase, augment, aggravate.

Moby Thesaurus

accelerate, acculturate, add to, adorn, advance, agent provocateur, aggravate, ameliorate, amend, amplify, annoy, augment, beautify, become, beef up, better, blow up, boost, bring forward, build up, civilize, complement, complicate, concentrate, condense, consolidate, deepen, deteriorate, double, edify, educate, elevate, embellish, embitter, embroider, emend, enlarge, enlarge upon, enlighten, enrich, exacerbate, exaggerate, exalt, exasperate, fatten, favor, forward, foster, go straight, heat up, heighten, hop up, hot up, improve, improve upon, increase, intensify, irritate, jazz up, key up, lard, lift, magnify, make acute, make an improvement, make complex, make worse, meliorate, mend, mount, nurture, promote, provoke, raise, ramify, redouble, refine upon, reform, reinforce, rise, rouse, sharpen, socialize, soup up, sour, step up, straighten out, strengthen, suit, swell, transfigure, transform, triple, upgrade, uplift, whet, worsen