coarsen

English

Etymology

coarse +‎ -en

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)sən

Verb

coarsen (third-person singular simple present coarsens, present participle coarsening, simple past and past participle coarsened)

1. (transitive) To make (more) coarse.
   • 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 6 "D'Sonoqua," [1]

     She appeared to be neither wooden nor stationary, but a singing spirit, young and fresh, passing through the jungle. No violence coarsened her; no power domineered to wither her. She was graciously feminine.

   • 1978, R. Z. Sheppard, "She-Wits and Funny Persons," Time, 29 February, 1978, [2]

     […] as the years went by, democracy and its wide audiences tended to broaden and coarsen humor.

   • Mary Whitehouse

     Bad language coarsens the whole quality of our life. It normalises harsh, often indecent language, which despoils our communication.

   Because the wool is of poor quality, it will coarsen the fabric.

2. (intransitive) To become (more) coarse.
   • 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, "The Beating," [3]

     He was intolerable now except under the influence of liquor, and as he seemed to decay and coarsen under her eyes, Gloria's soul and body shrank away from him […]

   • 1925, Ellen Glasgow, chapter 14, in Barren Ground‎^[4]:

     […] though her skin had coarsened in the last ten years, the dark red of her cheeks and lips was as vivid as ever.

Anagrams

• Carones, Creason, Croesan, canoers, carnose, corneas, earcons, narcose, sea corn, seacorn, sorance