Meanings
present singular third person lengthens · participle present lengthening · participle past lengthened · past lengthened
- transitiveTo make longer, to extend the length of.
You need to lengthen the story if you want to have it published.
1 more example
The platforms of all stations from Shepherds Bush to Liverpool Street have been lengthened from 325 ft. to 427 ft. between tunnel headwalls, to take longer trains.
1950 September, “Central London Railway Jubilee”, in Railway Magazine, page 622 - intransitiveTo become longer.
The shadows on the lawn lengthened as the sun began to set.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Ancient Greek μακρύνω, μηκύνω
- μακρύνω (makrúnō)to make longer
- μηκύνω (mēkúnō)to make longer
Arabic طَوَّلَ, أَطَالَ
- طَوَّلَ (ṭawwala)to make longer
- أَطَالَ (ʔaṭāla)to make longer
- طَالَ (ṭāla)to become longer
Bulgarian удължавам, удължавам се
- удължавам (udălžavam)to make longer
- удължавам се (udălžavam se)to become longer
Catalan allargar
- allargarto make longer
Chinese Mandarin 加長 /加长
- 加長 /加长 (jiācháng)to make longer
Czech prodloužit, prodloužit se
- prodloužitto make longer
- prodloužit seto become longer
Finnish pidentää, pidentyä
- pidentääto make longer
- pidentyäto become longer
- pidetäto become longer
French rallonger
- rallongerto make longer
German verlängern
- verlängernto make longer
Irish sín
- sínto make longer
Italian allungare
- allungareto make longer
Japanese 延ばす, 長くする
- 延ばす (nobasu)to make longer
- 長くする (nagaku suru)to make longer
- 延長する (enchō suru)to make longer
Māori whakaroa, katete
- whakaroato make longer
- kateteto make longer
Polish przedłużyć, wydłużyć
- przedłużyćto make longer
- wydłużyćto make longer
Portuguese alongar, acompridar
- alongarto make longer
- acompridarto make longer
- encompridarto make longer
Romanian lungi
- lungito make longer
Russian удлиня́ть, удлини́ть
- удлиня́ть (udlinjátʹ)to make longer
- удлини́ть (udlinítʹ)to make longer
Spanish alargar, elongar
- alargarto make longer
- elongarto make longer
- alargarseto become longer
Swahili refusha
- refushato make longer
Swedish förlänga, förlängas
- förlängato make longer
- förlängasto become longer
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with lengthen
All rhymes →Cite this entry
lengthen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lengthen
“lengthen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lengthen. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lengthen,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lengthen.
Source: lengthen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.