Library / English Dictionary

HEIGHTEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

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 "heighten" 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 "heighten"):

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 2

Meaning:

Increase

Example:

heighten the tension

Synonyms:

enhance; heighten; raise

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

compound; deepen; heighten; intensify (make more intense, stronger, or more marked)

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

potentiate (increase the effect of or act synergistically with (a drug or a physiological or biochemical phenomenon))

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make (one's senses) more acute

Example:

This drug will sharpen your vision

Synonyms:

heighten; sharpen

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

compound; deepen; heighten; intensify (make more intense, stronger, or more marked)

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

subtilise; subtilize (make (senses) more keen)

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make more extreme; raise in quantity, degree, or intensity

Example:

heightened interest

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

increase (make bigger or more)

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 5

Meaning:

Become more extreme

Example:

The tension heightened

Synonyms:

heighten; rise

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

increase (make bigger or more)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 6

Meaning:

Increase the height of

Example:

The athletes kept jumping over the steadily heightened bars

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

bring up; elevate; get up; lift; raise (raise from a lower to a higher position)

Sentence frames:

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

Credits

 Context examples: 

Then, too, his bliss was heightened by the knowledge that her mind was comprehending what she read and was quivering with appreciation of the beauty of the written thought.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I never thought, proceeded Annie, with a heightened colour, of any worldly gain that my husband would bring to me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Pregnancy in older mothers is associated with a heightened risk of complications for both the mother and her baby.

(Placenta changes could mean male offspring of older mums more likely to develop heart problems in later life, University of Cambridge)

Distributed feedback patterns to rewards predict heightened pain sensitivity, according to the new research led by Frauke Nees, PhD, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.

(Study in Teens Shows Brain Responses to Rewards Linked to Pain Sensitivity, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Psoriasis, a common skin disease affecting 3-5 percent of the U.S. population, is associated with heightened systemic inflammation, which elevates risk of blood vessel disease and diabetes.

(Study links psoriasis treatment and improvement in heart artery disease, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This agent also plays a role in alleviating mood swings of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), increasing energy and mental alertness and heighten the ability to focus in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

(DL-Phenylalanine, NCI Thesaurus)

People who show heightened impulsivity are more likely to experience a number of mental health issues, including substance and behavioural addictions, eating disorders, and ADHD.

(Young people at risk of addiction show differences in key brain region, University of Cambridge)

While high saturated fat levels in red meat have long been known to contribute to heart disease for people in general, the new finding suggests that a subgroup of the population may be at heightened risk for a different reason – a food allergen.

(Researchers have found a link between allergen in red meat and heart disease, National Institutes of Health)

However, mice bearing one mutant copy of RIPK1 and one normal copy, as is the case for CRIA patients, were mostly normal but had heightened responses to a variety of inflammatory stimuli, which the researchers think may suggest a possible mechanism for how the human disease occurs.

(Researchers discover new autoinflammatory disease and uncover its biological cause, National Institutes of Health)

The infrasound measurements he obtained during Villarrica's eruption are a sequence: a volcano as it evolves from a passive vent with a stable lava lake, to one with heightened activity that increased over a few weeks—and ended in dramatic fire.

(Listen to the pulse of an erupting volcano, NSF)