Enhance

//ɪnˈhɑːns// verb

verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To lift, raise up. obsolete

    "nought aghast, his mightie hand enhaunst: / The stroke down from her head vnto her shoulder glaunst."

  2. 2
    increase the level of wordnet
  3. 3
    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."

  4. 4
    make better or more attractive wordnet
  5. 5
    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."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    To be raised up; to grow larger. intransitive

    "A debt enhances rapidly by compound interest."

  2. 7
    To take up contrast agent (for an organ, tissue, or lesion).

Example

More examples

"It should be clear that the curriculum reform is mandatory in order to enhance interdisciplinary research."

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.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.