enhance

English

Alternative forms

• inhance
• enhaunce
• inhaunce

Etymology

Middle English enhauncen, from Anglo-Norman enhauncer, from Old French enhaucier (“make greater”), from Late Latin *inaltare (“exalt”), from Latin in + altus (“high”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: ɪnˈhɑːns
• (US) IPA: ɨnˈhæns, SAMPA: /In"h{ns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːns

Verb

enhance (third-person singular simple present enhances, present participle enhancing, simple past and past participle enhanced)

1. (obsolete) To lift, raise up.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.i:

     nought aghast, his mightie hand enhaunst: / The stroke down from her head vnto her shoulder glaunst.

2. To augment or make something greater.
   • 2000, Mordecai Roshwald, Liberty: Its Meaning and Scope, page 155

     A hereditary monarch relies on pomp and ceremony, which enhance the respect for the institution

3. To improve something by adding features.
   • 1986, Maggie Righetti, Knitting in Plain English, page 192

     A pom-pom to top off a stocking cap, a fringe to feather the edge of a shawl, tassels to define the points of an afghan, these are just a few of the delightful little goodies that enhance handknit things.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:improve

Translations

augment or make something greater

Bulgarian: увеличавам (bg), повишавам (bg) Dutch: vergroten (nl), uitbreiden (nl) Finnish: parantaa (fi) French: augmenter (fr), accroître (fr)

Italian: accrescere (it), intensificare (it) Portuguese: aumentar (pt) Spanish: aumentar (es)

improve something by adding features

Bulgarian: подобрявам (bg) Dutch: uitbreiden (nl), verbeteren (nl) Finnish: parantaa (fi) French: améliorer (fr)

Polish: poprawiać (pl) / poprawić (pl), polepszać (pl) / polepszyć (pl) Spanish: realzar (es) Swedish: förbättra (sv)