enhance
verbUK /ɪnˈhɑːns/ · US /ɪnˈhæns/
Etymology From Middle English enhauncen, anhaunsen, from Anglo-Norman anhauncer (“enhance, raise”), from Vulgar Latin *inaltiāre (“raise”), derived from Latin in + altus (“high”). The /h/ in Old French was taken from haut (“high”), where it resulted from Frankish influence.
1
Obsolete To lift, raise up.
- nought aghast, his mightie hand enhaunst: / The stroke down from her head vnto her shoulder glaunst.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
2
To augment or make something greater.
- 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.1831, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More: Or Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, page 214:
- A hereditary monarch relies on pomp and ceremony, which enhance the respect for the institution2000, Mordecai Roshwald, Liberty: Its Meaning and Scope, page 155:
3
To improve something by adding features.
- 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.1986, Maggie Righetti, Knitting in Plain English, page 192:
- The only silver lining for businesses and local residents was that there was at least an end in sight, and that the new station, once built, would enhance the area and provide improved east-west access for pedestrians.2025 February 19, Chris Howe, “Euston: a work in progress”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 45:
4
To be raised up; to grow larger.
- A debt enhances rapidly by compound interest.
- Synonyms
- heighten
- Antonyms
- dehance
- Derived terms
- bioenhance, enhanceable, enhancement, enhanceosome, enhancer, enhancive, hyperenhance, hypoenhance, isoenhance, photoenhance