Library / English Dictionary

DEEPEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become more intense

Example:

His dislike for raw fish only deepened in Japan

Synonyms:

deepen; intensify

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "deepen" is one way to...):

increase (become bigger or greater in amount)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deepen"):

build (develop and grow)

redouble (make twice as great or intense)

break open; burst out; erupt; flare; flare up; irrupt (erupt or intensify suddenly)

condense (become more compact or concentrated)

sharpen (become sharp or sharper)

accelerate; quicken; speed; speed up (move faster)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make more intense, stronger, or more marked

Example:

This event only deepened my convictions

Synonyms:

compound; deepen; heighten; intensify

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "deepen" is one way to...):

increase (become bigger or greater in amount)

Cause:

deepen; intensify (become more intense)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deepen"):

heat up; hot up; screw up (make more intense)

fan (make (an emotion) fiercer)

enhance; heighten; raise (increase)

amplify (increase the volume of)

sharpen (make crisp or more crisp and precise)

heighten; sharpen (make (one's senses) more acute)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Become deeper in tone

Example:

Her voice deepened when she whispered the password

Synonyms:

change; deepen

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "deepen" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make deeper

Example:

They deepened the lake so that bigger pleasure boats could use it

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "deepen" is one way to...):

enlarge (make larger)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

deepening (a process of becoming deeper and more profound)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Now, a team of scientists has conducted research into waves that travel through this magnetic, electrically charged environment, known as the magnetosphere, deepening understanding of the region.

(Scientists deepen understanding of magnetic fields that surround Earth, National Science Foundation)

As the wet twilight deepened, I stopped in a solitary bridle-path, which I had been pursuing an hour or more.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I cast a quick glance at my uncle, and I saw that the shadow had deepened upon his face.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The color deepened in Jo's cheeks as she answered, with the look of mingled pleasure, pride, and pain which young girls wear when speaking of first lovers, I'm afraid it is so, Mother.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Miss Dartle,” I returned, “you deepen the injury. It is sufficient already. I will only say, at parting, that you do him a great wrong.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Harker was still and quiet; but over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came a grey look which deepened and deepened in the morning light, till when the first red streak of the coming dawn shot up, the flesh stood darkly out against the whitening hair.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

They include: • Acne • Breast growth and shrinking of testicles in men • Voice deepening and growth of facial hair in women • High blood pressure • Heart problems, including heart attack • Liver disease, including cancer • Kidney damage • Aggressive behavior

(Anabolic Steroids, NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse)

Yet summer lingered, fading and fainting among her hills, deepening the purple of her valleys, spinning a shroud of haze from waning powers and sated raptures, dying with the calm content of having lived and lived well.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

If you cast your mind back to some of those narratives with which you have afflicted a long-suffering public, you will recognise how often the grotesque has deepened into the criminal.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“I know English, and I know what you mean, sir,” Johnson answered, his flush deepening at the slur on his knowledge of the English language.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)