enhance
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English enhauncen, from Anglo-Norman enhauncer, from Old French enhaucier (“make greater”), from Late Latin inaltare (“exalt”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin in + altus (“high”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 331: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ɪnˈhɑːns/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 331: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GenAm" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ɪnˈhæns/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɑːns, -æns
Verb
Lua error in Module:en-headword at line 1143: Legacy parameter 1=STEM no longer supported, just use 'en-verb' without params
- (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.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.i:
- To augment or make something greater.
- 1831, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More: Or Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, page 214:
- They had no character to preserve, except for courage; and perhaps the reputation of ferocity enhanced the value of their services, in making them feared as well as hated by the people.
- 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
- 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.
- (intransitive) To be raised up; to grow larger.
- A debt enhances rapidly by compound interest.
- (radiology) To take up contrast agent (for an organ, tissue, or lesion).
Synonyms
- heighten
- See also Thesaurus:improve
Translations
augment or make something greater
|
improve something by adding features
|
Middle English
Verb
enhance
- Alternative form of enhauncen
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɑːns
- Rhymes:English/æns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- English intransitive verbs
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English verbs