Coarsen
verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To make (more) coarse. transitive
"1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 6 "D'Sonoqua," http://www.gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100131h.html She appeared to be neither wooden nor stationary, but a singing spirit, young and fresh, passing through the jungle. No violence coarsened her; no power domineered to wither her. She was graciously feminine."
- 2 make less subtle or refined wordnet
- 3 To become (more) coarse. intransitive
"He was intolerable now except under the influence of liquor, and as he seemed to decay and coarsen under her eyes, Gloria's soul and body shrank away from him […]"
- 4 make or become coarse or coarser wordnet
Example
More examples"1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 6 "D'Sonoqua," http://www.gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100131h.html She appeared to be neither wooden nor stationary, but a singing spirit, young and fresh, passing through the jungle. No violence coarsened her; no power domineered to wither her. She was graciously feminine."
Etymology
From coarse + -en.
More for "coarsen"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.