Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To raise or increase the quantity or degree of; intensify.
  • intransitive verb To make high or higher; raise.
  • intransitive verb To rise or increase in quantity or degree; intensify.
  • intransitive verb To become high or higher; rise.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make higher; increase the vertical elevation of.
  • To make higher in amount or degree; increase; augment; intensify: as, to heighten an effect.
  • To make high or higher in feeling or condition; elevate or exalt, as the mind or a person.
  • Synonyms Lift, Exalt, etc. See raise.
  • To become higher; increase; augment.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To make high; to raise higher; to elevate.
  • transitive verb To carry forward; to advance; to increase; to augment; to aggravate; to intensify; to render more conspicuous; -- used of things, good or bad

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To make high; to raise higher; to elevate.
  • verb To carry forward; to advance; to increase; to augment; to aggravate; to intensify; to render more conspicuous; -- used of things, good or bad; as, to heighten beauty; to heighten a flavor or a tint.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make (one's senses) more acute
  • verb become more extreme
  • verb increase the height of
  • verb make more extreme; raise in quantity, degree, or intensity
  • verb increase
  • verb make more intense, stronger, or more marked

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

height +‎ -en

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Examples

  • Support for profiling might approach majority levels among both groups should an actual attack or close call heighten fears.

    Forbes.com: News 2010

  • Support for profiling might approach majority levels among both groups should an actual attack or close call heighten fears.

    Forbes.com: News 2010

  • Support for profiling might approach majority levels among both groups should an actual attack or close call heighten fears.

    Forbes.com: News 2010

  • Support for profiling might approach majority levels among both groups should an actual attack or close call heighten fears.

    Forbes.com: News 2010

  • I've been to Fort Benning for the SOA Watch protests and I am unsure how they could "heighten" the security.

    20 Year Anniversary of SOA Watch. (Blog for Democracy) 2009

  • I've been to Fort Benning for the SOA Watch protests and I am unsure how they could "heighten" the security.

    Blog for Democracy: November 2009 Archives 2009

  • GROSS: Did coming of age artistically during the AIDS epidemic just kind of heighten your sense of mortality?

    Antony Hegarty's Otherworldly Sound 2009

  • I think the other thing is that if he ` s as disturbed as he seems to be, if he ` s a sociopath, often these guys are highly sexualized, and so they do engage in unusual sexual activities to kind of heighten their excitement in life.

    CNN Transcript Jun 16, 2006 2006

  • And that has been now a major part of what John Kerry has been saying as he reaches out into the middle, and that is, hey, this man, George Bush, came to Washington to kind of heighten the tone, and he hasn't.

    CNN Transcript Jun 7, 2004 2004

  • So, that's going to kind of heighten their curiosity, if you will.

    CNN Transcript Jun 27, 2002 2002

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