Meanings
present singular third person heightens · participle present heightening · participle past heightened · past heightened
- To advance, increase, augment, make larger, more intense, stronger etc.
to heighten beauty
5 more examples
to heighten a flavor or a tint
to heighten awareness
to heighten tension
the excitement heightened
“That’s heightened by the impact of climate change,” she added.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishheightenen
- Englishheighten
From Middle English heightenen, hyghtenen, equivalent to height + -en (verbal suffix).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian повишавам, издигам
- повишавам (povišavam)to make higher
- издигам (izdigam)to make higher
- усилвам (usilvam)to augment, aggravate, intensify
- повишавам (povišavam)to augment, aggravate, intensify
Catalan aixecar
- aixecarto augment, aggravate, intensify
Chinese Mandarin 提高
- 提高 (tígāo)to make higher
Dutch verhogen, aandikken
- verhogento make higher
- aandikkento augment, aggravate, intensify
- opsmukkento augment, aggravate, intensify
Esperanto altigi, plialtigi
- altigito make higher
- plialtigito make higher
- akrigito augment, aggravate, intensify
- altigito augment, aggravate, intensify
- plialtigito augment, aggravate, intensify
Finnish korottaa, korostaa
- korottaato make higher
- korostaato augment, aggravate, intensify
French hausser, hausser
- hausserto make higher
- hausserto augment, aggravate, intensify
Hungarian magasít, megemel
- magasítto make higher
- megemelto make higher
- megmagasítto make higher
- feljebb/magasabbra emelto make higher
- fokozto augment, aggravate, intensify
- felfokozto augment, aggravate, intensify
- megnövelto augment, aggravate, intensify
- súlyosbítto augment, aggravate, intensify
Icelandic hækka
- hækkato make higher
Irish ardaigh
- ardaighto make higher
Māori whakatiketike, whakateitei
- whakatiketiketo make higher
- whakateiteito make higher
Persian بالا بردن
- بالا بردن (bâlâ bordan)to make higher
Portuguese elevar, aumentar
- elevarto make higher
- aumentarto augment, aggravate, intensify
Russian повыша́ть, повы́сить
- повыша́ть (povyšátʹ)to make higher
- повы́сить (povýsitʹ)to make higher
- повыша́ться (povyšátʹsja)to augment, aggravate, intensify
- повы́ситься (povýsitʹsja)to augment, aggravate, intensify
Spanish elevar, realzar
- elevarto make higher
- realzarto augment, aggravate, intensify
- amplificarto augment, aggravate, intensify
- intensificarto augment, aggravate, intensify
Swedish förhöja
- förhöjato make higher
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with heighten
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Cite this entry
heighten. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heighten
“heighten.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heighten. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “heighten,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heighten.
Source: heighten on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.