Augmenter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An entity or individual that enhances or adds to something, often increasing its effectiveness or value
2. a person or mechanism that contributes additional layers or elements to a given context
3. a component that serves to improve or expand the functionality or scope of a larger system or process

Etymology: "Augmenter" is a straightforward formation: the verb "augment" with the agent suffix "-er" attached, so it names a thing or person that augments, or makes something bigger, fuller or stronger. The suffix has a long ancestry. It goes back through Proto-Italic and Latin "-arius", which marked a person or thing connected with something, and reached English through Old French "-ier", then Middle English "-er". The verb it attaches to, "augment", came into English from Latin "augmentum" and carries the sense of increasing a quantity or strength. Because the word is built from familiar parts, its meaning is transparent: an augmenter is whatever adds to something already present. It is a modern and largely technical-leaning coinage in the sense that "augment" plus "-er" was an ordinary English construction rather than a term reserved for scholars, so it reads as a plain functional noun.

Synonyms: increaser, enhancer, booster, expander, amplifier

Antonyms: reducer, diminisher, decreaser, lessener, shrinker