Heighten

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈhaɪ̯.tən/

Definitions

1. To amplify or boost the level of a particular quality or feeling
2. To make a sensation, emotion, or experience become stronger or more pronounced
3. To raise the level or extent of something, often resulting in a more acute or noticeable effect

Etymology: "Heighten" is about as transparent as English verbs get: it is built from "height" plus the verbal suffix "-en", meaning "make higher." The form appeared in Middle English as "heightenen" and "hyghtenen," so the verb existed long before the modern spelling settled. Its earliest sense was literal, raising something upward or making it taller, and the figurative use of intensifying a feeling, quality or effect grew out of that physical meaning. The root "height" itself was formed in Middle English from the older adjective "high," with the ending "-th" added to make a noun, a pattern shared by "length" and "depth." So "heighten" carries two layers of change: "high" became "height" through a noun-forming suffix, and then the verb-forming "-en" turned that noun back into an action. The result is a word whose meaning moved from the vertical to the emotional and sensory, so that a tension, a colour or a flavour can now be heightened without anything moving upward at all.

Synonyms: increase, intensify, amplify, boost, enhance

Antonyms: decrease, diminish, reduce, lower, subside